To Live Again
by Furor Paxx
Summary: What is the world coming to? As confused as the mutant disciples of Xavier and Magneto were to begin with, the appearance of a near immortal enemy throws everything the mutants knew out of balance. Now, after being imprisoned, buried alive and crawling
1. Default Chapter

How do you spell confusion?? Fanfiction.net.  
  
I have no idea how to work this blasted thing, but I guess I'll try anyway. This isn't like some of those stories that have no purpose, I definitely know where I'm going with this. I've got 50 pages written already, and I'll try to update this periodically. Any advice and suggestions are welcome, but don't be offended if I don't use them or hold off until later.  
  
And to all of you romance buffs, sorry, my story just isn't about that. Some of the characters will get hurt, even the ones I like, so if you have a problem when someone gets their butt kicked, just remember that I do too.  
  
Now the formalities. Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ ~^~^~^~^~  
  
Somewhere in the dark, there was a sigh and the gentle rustle of bedsheets as Kurt gave up trying to sleep. He had sat in bed for hours, counting sheep, thinking, mentally reviewing for that big American Gov. test for tomorrow. He sat up and instinctively glanced at the clock. Okay, the big American Gov. test today. Without thinking, he slipped the tip of his tail in his mouth and began gnawing on it. Something was bothering him, and it bothered him that whatever it was had gotten to the point that he couldn't ignore it anymore.  
  
"C'mon, it's four in zee morning, vhy am I not asleep?" Kurt's whispered voice was the only sound though. Everyone else was asleep, like he would have, should have been. He stood and paced the floor. After about half an hour of wearing the carpet thin, he opened the window. It was cold, freezing, but he stood in front of the window as long as he could stand before slamming it shut and scuttling back to bed. Once again he found himself staring at the ceiling, wishing that he could read his own mind and find out what was wrong. Since he couldn't do that, and since it was warm underneath the blanket, Kurt just fell asleep, drowning his nagging worry in the blankness of deep sleep.  
  
~~ In the Morning ~~  
  
"We're gonna be late, people. Let's get a move on." Scott picked up his bookbag without breaking a stride and called to the others. "Are you waiting for a personal invitation? Move it, Evan, you too, Kitty. Where's Kurt? Anybody seen Kurt?"  
  
"Kurt? I thought I saw him a minute ago, man, but you know how he is." Evan grabbed an apple and walked towards the door.  
  
"Hey, where's my algebra homework?" Kitty was flipping through her notebook, completely oblivious to Scott's question. "Found it. I almost, like, died just then."  
  
"Nice. Kurt! Get down here!" Scott yelled up the stairs. Kurt was usually the first person down in the mornings.  
  
"Scott, he's already outside!" Evan yelled through the door. Scott sighed and grabbed his keys.  
  
"Vhat!? I didn't touch your notebook! Vhat vould I do viz a girlie algebra notebook? I'm taking geometry." Kurt's German accent rang through the cold air.  
  
"Well, like, you always pull stunts like that!" Kitty yelled at him. She was in a bad mood. 'Probably from staying up so late last night, I told her not to cram,' Scott thought to himself.  
  
"Give it a rest, it's too early for this." He said, already tired of playing mediator. No one seemed to understand just how hard it was to keep so many teens together. 'Listen to me, as if I'm so much better.'  
  
"Get in the car. Anyone who yells is gonna walk to school."  
  
"Can ve just valk back home?"  
  
"Can it, Kurt." Scott allowed himself a small grin as the blue-haired fifteen year old took up his usual seat in the back. From there he could taunt the people in the front and bother the person next to him as well. Despite all the arguments Kurt caused, he really was a trip. "Now for once, can we have peace on the way to school? Please?"  
  
"Scott, mein Fruend, I don't vant to disappoint you, you know zat right?"  
  
"Just zip it, Blue-Boy. I have to, like, get in the mood for this test." Kitty was looking back at her notes, no doubt she'd forget everything once she got in class, but Scott had done all he could to help her, she was on her own. Surprisingly, Kurt did fall silent, and didn't say a word until they got out of the car.  
  
"You okay, Kurt?" Evan asked him, but Kurt was so deep in thought that he didn't even hear.  
  
~~ Lunch ~~  
  
"Guten Tag!" Kurt was up to his usual tricks, flirting with just about every girl who walked past the group. He diverted enough attention to Evan to say those two words before he was hitting on the next girl. He cracked a dumb joke, and then the girl's friends called her over to their table.  
  
"Man, you just don't give up do you?" Evan asked as he opened his milk carton.  
  
"Ach, chicks dig the fuzzy dude." Kurt grinned. Kitty, Jean Grey and Scott sat at the table then, and Kurt was obliged to annoy them. He was just going into how Kitty had choked on her test when he saw Pietro Maximoff walking a stranger out of the school. Kurt's poor little brain couldn't take all that in at once, his eyes actually saw Pietro, the fastest mutant on possibly the whole planet, and that was it. Half the time Pietro was moving so fast that you couldn't see him, just a blur where he was three seconds before you noticed him. And here he was, walking.  
  
"Do you see vhat I see? Or am I suffering from post-test stress?" He nudged Evan and pointed.  
  
"Is that Pietro? Why's he walking all slow?"  
  
"Who's the guy with him?"  
  
"Vanna go ask?"  
  
"You're kidding, right? Kurt?" Kitty looked at him as though he was crazy. Pietro and Evan just didn't mix and the fact that Pietro was part of the Brotherhood only made it worse.  
  
"Vhy should I be kidding?" Kurt looked genuinely puzzled.  
  
"Heads up, he's coming this way." Scott said. The five of them looked up and watched Pietro and the stranger walk to their table.  
  
"Greetings." The stranger said as soon as he was in speaking distance of the group.  
  
"Guten Tag." Kurt answered as cheerfully as he knew how.  
  
"Grustich. Ich bin Phoenix." The stranger returned in fluent German. "That's about all I remember from my classes, but hey, who cares?" Phoenix looked around the table. "Nice to meet you guys."  
  
"This is Phoenix Malcolm, he got into so much trouble at home that his family shipped 'em to us. I don't want 'em, so he's all yours." Pietro spoke fast on his best days, and today he was looking really out of sorts, the words slurred and everyone had to think about what he said. Without even waiting for a response, he sped off to brood and plot with his friends, Todd, Lance and Fred.  
  
And that left Phoenix and the five friends sitting around the table.  
  
"What a moron." He said absently. He had a shifty gaze, his eyes never lingered on anything for more that a second, but his erect posture and casual attitude gave the impression that he didn't miss a thing and even then was planning some kind of mischief.  
  
"So, um, Phoenix, what school are you from?" Scott said, scrambling for straws. He was still kind of shaken by the way that Pietro just abandoned Phoenix, and with enemies, too.  
  
"Haven't been to school in two years. I had a private tutor while I was locked up. Then I got out of jail and thrown in a hospital." A small grin worked its way across his face, and a strange glint lit in his eyes. None of the X-men thought he had been in a normal hospital, in fact, they probably would have placed money on the fact that it wasn't.  
  
"So. Um. I hope you like Bayville High." There was an awkward silence as the friends tried to think of something to say.  
  
"Are you. you know?" Kurt prompted.  
  
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. What's it to you?"  
  
"Just vondering. I mean, vhy would your parents send you to Magn- ah, Pietro's house?"  
  
"They're dead. My great aunt and uncle shipped me to this dump." Something flicked behind Phoenix's eyes and everyone but Kurt shifted in their seats. He was too busy dealing with the wave of emotion that hit him with a fury. His mind filled with the same questions as earlier that morning, this time they demanded to be answered, but as usual, he had none. "It was nice talking to you. Maybe we can get together sometime. Chat and whatever else you fancy types do all day." Phoenix turned, a weird, indecisive move that started at his shoulders and eventually made its way to his legs. Without another word, or even a glance behind him, he walked away, leaving the X-men with a bad taste in their mouths and an odd sense of foreboding in their hearts. 


	2. Chapter 2

That wasn't so bad. There's not much to say right now so, Dude. Read on.  
  
Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
~~ Pietro's Room ~~  
  
"So what was up with that guy, anyway? He was even creepier than Toad on a bad day."  
  
Lance, Todd, Fred and Pietro were all arranged in Pietro's perfect room. There wasn't a thing out of place, no dust, no dirt. A perfect room for a perfectionist.  
  
"My dad says he owed Phoenix's guardians a favor and that's why he took the creep in. He says that with the 'proper influence' Phoenix might turn out okay. As if."  
  
"Why'd they send him away?" Todd asked. He was crouched in his usual position at the desk and was settled in and finally comfortable.  
  
"Oh, you do not wanna know. That's why I left the freak with those punks. Let them get the crap scared outta them."  
  
"C'mon, Pietro, you can't leave us hanging. What'd he do?" Lance shifted his feet off the edge of the desk and let them hit the carpet with a thump.  
  
"Okay, try this, Phoenix isn't a guy, 'he' is really a 'she.'"  
  
"No joke?"  
  
"Nope, she went totally psycho one day, went out and bought a million candles and lit them in the house. Then she walked out and let them burn themselves out. One of them started a fire, and the idiot ran all the way back inside to get a turtle and a stuffed alligator and a binder. Let everything else burn to cinders. She got off with a slap on the hand for that one, no one could prove it was arson, and for all I know, she wasn't really crazy then, but I doubt it."  
  
"She saved the turtle?"  
  
"Yes. As far as I know she still has it, that turtle was the only thing she managed to hold on to through the years. Now shut up Freddie and lemme finish." Pietro's voice got lower, and uncharacteristically slow. It still sounded fast, but not as fast as it usually was. "After that, her family- mom, brother and sister- moved into a new place, in a bigger city. Man was she pissed about that. Her mom had said that they were gonna move to a big city, where ever there was work, but Phoenix fought tooth and nail since the beginning. Phoenix doesn't like crowds and used to go through all kinds of measures to avoid them. She doesn't anymore, but that's no surprise."  
  
"You're getting off topic." Lance pointed out.  
  
"Yeah, well, the first day, she pushed a bunch of boxes out the window. All of them in fact, luckily, nothing broke. The window wasn't high up and everything was packed carefully. All her mom did was yell at her and make her move the boxes. Then she bought spray paint and sprayed all over the walls and then set the walls on fire. Her mom noticed really quick and put it out, but there was a big burnt spot on the wall. After that her mother sent her to a shrink, but Phoenix refused to say or do anything while she was with the lady. A couple of days later," Pietro leaned forward and spoke menacingly. "A couple of days later her mom was going to bed and saw Phoenix sitting in the hall, staring at that burnt spot, barely even blinking. Every now and then she would nod like she was listening to something. The next day she acted like nothing was wrong. Got up, ate breakfast, got ready for school and all. In fact, she didn't do anything weird at all. Then when she got home, she sat in front of that spot for eight hours and then went to sleep. The next day she did the same thing, and the day after and kept doing it for a month."  
  
"Yeah." Todd breathed, so wrapped up in the story that he didn't even notice that he had come out of his crouch and was sitting on the chair.  
  
"At the end of that month, the school blew up."  
  
"WHAT?!?" all three of Pietro's listeners gaped.  
  
"Yep, and that day, she refused to go to school. She didn't even go to bed like she had all the other nights. She just stayed there in front of the spot all night and eventually all day long."  
  
"Were there, y'know."  
  
"Almost two thousand people." Pietro said with a nod. "Her mom forced her to go to a counselor after that, but she kept staring at that spot. They did countless tests and things on her, all of them said that nothing was wrong. But then she went out and got a dog. She butchered it in the bathroom and painted the walls with the blood. Her mom had no idea. She walked in the bathroom and saw the walls were red and thought it was paint. Phoenix even went out and bought towels and curtains to match it, a rusty red color. Next thing you know her brother and sister's rooms are red too, and they keep waking up in the middle of the night screaming," Pietro gave a half-hearted laugh. "bloody murder."  
  
"Oh man, no more. I feel sick." Todd whined and pulled his legs up again.  
  
"Did they ever find out who she killed to paint the other rooms?" Lance asked, half-fascinated, half-fearful.  
  
"Nope. But I'm not done yet. After the fifth room turned up painted red, her mom got suspicious. One day she came home early and no one heard from her again. The cops came and checked the place. Didn't find anything. The kids were moved to a foster home and the next family moved into the house. They found a plumbing problem and had to rip out a wall to get to the pipes, that's when they noticed how the 'paint' just crumpled off. So they called a friend of theirs over to find out what was wrong with the paint."  
  
"But it wasn't paint."  
  
"Exactly." There was the sound of a door slamming in the background and then footsteps, followed by another door.  
  
"The investigation showed that it was animal blood, all of it, but who cares about that? After they moved in with the foster family, things got really bad. The people they moved in with had a son, who got really drunk, and used to hit them. One day, he got a bit too pushy and made a move on Phoenix's little sister, Phoenix beat the crap out of him. Then he threatened to come back and kill Phoenix and mess up her brother and sister. When he left, they were all huddled around the fireplace, Phoenix was wiping blood off her hands and staring at the walls. She said the living room needed a new coat of paint, and her foster parents, not knowing about the old house, and thinking that she was changing the subject, agreed." Pietro paused as Todd began whimpering again. After a moment, he continued. "No one ever heard from him again, but, those walls.she painted them a pastel green." All three of the boys gave a sigh of relief.  
  
"Then the sister disappeared." They gasped, and if Pietro didn't have to share a house with the freak, he might have been pleased at his friend's reactions to the story. "Oh, man, Phoenix went berserk. Tore up the countryside looking for that little girl. And they found her eventually. Someone had kidnapped her, done their thing and chucked her in the concrete foundation of a building that had just been laid. They found her when they were pressing it flat and an air bubble trapped beneath made her arm stick up out of the concrete."  
  
"Oh my God." Lance's eyes were huge, even Todd could tell he was on the brink of crying. Todd was too busy being scared to bother him about it though. He wished he had enough compassion in him to care about the girl, but he was in the same school, heck the same state as the monster who painted walls with blood. He felt sorry for the dead girl, but was more concerned with himself.  
  
"Yeah, they never even found out who did it either. After that, Phoenix was fiercely protective of her brother, but no protection in the world could save him from leukemia."  
  
"He died too?" Freddie was all out crying, he could barely speak.  
  
"Uh-huh. Then the cops caught up with Phoenix and charged her with a mess- load of crimes, including the disappearance of a dozen animals, arson, her mother's disappearance and that guy's disappearance too. There wasn't much proof, they never even found a body, but she got DJJ for three months. While she was in there, she set fire to a wall of her cell and did the same thing as before, she'd sit there for hours looking at the burnt spot. Once the grownups noticed, they moved her to a different room and she did it again. They kept her in for another five months for arson and destruction of public property. Then she kept getting into fights, she got more time for that. And then she escaped, if you can believe it. The cops dragged her all the way back to the center, only to find it gone. Blown to pieces with almost a thousand people inside. Try as they might, the feds couldn't stick her with anything, so they sent her to another place and she served the rest of her term there. Once she got out the government dumped her in nuthouse and pretended that she didn't exist."  
  
"So how'd she get out?" Todd asked, knowing he wouldn't like the answer.  
  
"This FBI agent was looking through the cold cases, and found out about the school, center and the missing people. He went to her and asked her about it. She told him to do something to himself and that she wasn't crazy and didn't have anything to say to people who locked her up for no reason. The man went and looked through her files and found out that they weren't current, she never had to take a test to get in there and the only tests she had ever taken all came up clean. In short, a law-suit the size of Texas. She got her money too, quite a bit, she could live in style for the rest of her life if she wanted to, but she was still a minor. The agent did some searching and found her great aunt and uncle and arranged for her to stay with them. In return, she had to tell him the honest-to-God truth. So far as anyone knows, she did. The agent took all his notes and tapes and destroyed them and then stuck his gun down his throat and pulled the trigger. She was pretty upset about that for a while. I guess she took a liking to him or something."  
  
"Man, that's so sad." Lance said as the first tear drops began to fall. "I thought we had it rough."  
  
"We do. My dad said she can stay here as long as she wants to."  
  
"Grow up, Maximoff."  
  
"If I live that long." Pietro muttered to himself. The four of them fell into silence, each one dwelling in his own thoughts.  
  
After the silence dragged on for several minutes, Phoenix slowly stood up and stretched, she had almost fallen asleep there in front of Pietro's door. Her eyes narrowed slightly and she wondered who had told him so much of her past. It wasn't accurate, but it was better than most. She liked Pietro, and would be sad if anything happened to him. Only for a while though. That guy with the blue hair, he was cool and his voice was just as mesmerizing as Pietro's.  
  
"Yeah, blue or silver hair, maybe green too, and a really cool voice. but, hey, any color, so long as it's not blonde, black or brown or too garish is cool. Accents, now, how can you not love a guy with blue hair and an accent." Phoenix let out a harsh laugh and a feral grin spread across her face. "But then, fear. fearful, quick-talking gossips. we love them too, don't we." The strange glint returned to her eyes, completing the look of utter evil, that the once shy, quiet Phoenix had hidden within for so long. "Yessss. Fear is good." She hissed. Pietro's door opened and she gave Pietro a fleeting glimpse of her face before she retreated to her room. He backed into the imaginary safety of his room and decided to spend the night at someone else's house until his father came back to his senses. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~  
  
~~ That Night ~~  
  
Kurt was restless again, he couldn't sleep, couldn't eat. He kept seeing that look in Phoenix's eyes. With a sigh, Kurt settled down on the bed. He had foreseen this and had taken a Tylenol PM and hoped that it would put him to sleep. Now that he thought about it, he probably shouldn't have taken an entire pill, he'd probably fall into a sleep so deep that he'd never wake up. There was a soft tap at his door.  
  
"Come in." Evan walked in and shut the door with his foot. He had a bag full of burgers in one hand and drinks in the other.  
  
"Thought you needed a little pick-me-up." He said as Kurt leapt off the bed and relieved him of the burgers.  
  
"You're a saint, Evan."  
  
"Don't mention it. You can have the rest of the burgers. I already ate and noticed that you barely touched your plate. So I got you a little something."  
  
"Phankz." Kurt said through a mouthful of burger. He was on his second already. Evan sipped his water, thinking about how to approach Kurt. The only reason Scott let him get the burgers was because Evan was Kurt's best friend, if anyone could get him to talk, then it was Evan. 'But only with the right kind of bribe.' Evan thought to himself. All of a sudden, Kurt stopped eating. "Zere's something zat's been bozzering me, Evan." Evan would have smiled if he hadn't heard that incredibly sincere voice that Kurt only used with certain people at certain times.  
  
"Well what's up, man, you know you can trust me."  
  
"I don't know vhat's up. All I know is zat its driving me insane." Kurt grabbed his head. "All day and night, I haven't slept vell for days, if I get to sleep at all."  
  
"Geez. You have no idea what it is?"  
  
"No." Evan's heart almost broke. He had never seen Kurt so miserable, not even when he'd been rejected by a girl who had a crush on his worst enemy. "I can't even figure out vhy it bothers me now. And zen zis Phoenix shows up." Kurt winced and Evan knew that for tonight at least, that was what was bothering his friend.  
  
"That guy gives me the creeps, man. I don't know what's up with him."  
  
"I don't know, he makes me sad, I guess."  
  
"Sad!?"  
  
"Ja, he seems so lonely. Like, like, ach, words fail me."  
  
Evan studied Kurt's troubled countenance carefully. "Like he's in a crowd, but still alone."  
  
Kurt's head shot up. "Ja, zat's it, like he's in the middle of a great big crowd and looking for someone. Someone important. But he can't see and is so afraid of missing zem zat he," Kurt's shoulders drooped and he began tapping on the spade on his tail. "He cuts people down, hoping zat just beyond zem is vhat he's looking for. It makes me sad zat he was alone for so long zat it came to zat."  
  
"Do you think he'll try to cut us down, too?"  
  
"If he does, I just hope he finds vhat he's looking for. I vouldn't mind so much zen."  
  
"Well, I would. If he tries to hurt anyone, I'll-"  
  
"I vonder, how many times has he heard zat? How many times has he been cut down? At ze table, I saw vhat he used to be, and vhy he changed so much. In zat one instant I knew."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"No one listened to him, no one cared. And zen someone offered him a chance to stand out in zee crowd. He accepted, hoping zat vhen he found vhat he was looking for, it vould get rid his obligations to zat person who made him stand out. And he still hasn't found it. It must be hard fighting his curse and looking for zat something. It's just so sad." Kurt had leaned back against the wall and was staring out the window. He was talking more to himself than Evan.  
  
"Maybe we should talk to him tomorrow. If he can't find what he's looking for by himself, maybe we can help. Then he won't have to cut people down anymore."  
  
"Yeah. Zat'd be ni-" Evan watched Kurt for another moment, and then decided that he was really asleep. He picked up the rest of the burger that Kurt had abandoned and wrapped it up.  
  
"I'll just stick this in the fridge for you, 'kay?" Evan stopped at the door and set the bag down. Before he left, he made sure that Kurt was covered, and the window locked. 'Man, it's below freezing and he leaves the window cracked. He must be crazy.'  
  
~~ The Next Morning ~~  
  
"We're gonna be late, hustle people."  
  
"Yeah, Scott, we, like, know already."  
  
"Ach, my homevork!!"  
  
"Where's my skateboard, I know it was do-"  
  
"Ahhhhh!!" There was a crash in the next room, and a string of garbled German.  
  
"Kurt? Dude, you found my skateboard, thanks man."  
  
Scott took several deep breaths to prevent laughing. "Everybody in the car." He picked up his books and sidestepped to let Evan, closely followed by Kurt, through the door. Kitty and Jean were already waiting for them. "We're gone." He grabbed his keys and ran to the car.  
  
~~ At Lunch ~~  
  
"So, are ve gonna talk to him or not?" Kurt didn't even wait for Evan to sit down. Inwardly, Evan cringed. He had hoped that Kurt was too sleepy to remember the suggestion, but evidently, Kurt had other plans.  
  
"Okay, just let me eat first." Kurt didn't answer, he just began tapping on the table and thinking of an approach.  
  
"Ah said 'Hi thar.' Are y'all ignorin' me or what?" Rogue's heavy southern dialect cut through Evan's concentration, but didn't phase Kurt.  
  
"Oh, hi, Rogue. Kurt's on a mission and it's my fault." He explained about how he had made the half-hearted suggestion to Kurt about Phoenix.  
  
"Man, ya' made a mistake. He's gotta be the meanest person I know."  
  
"Who?" Scott asked. He and Jean sat down and listened to Rogue tell the story this time. "Evan, you know better than getting Kurt worked up. But at least we know what's been bothering him."  
  
"It sounded like a kinda good idea at the time. You should have heard Kurt; he had me convinced that all we had to do was talk to him. But when I saw Phoenix this morning. I'm afraid of him again." Everyone lapsed into a silence.  
  
"Kitty said she was going to sit with Sarah today. In case you wondered." Scott said, just to fill the silence. Everyone could see her across the lawn.  
  
"Zere he is, Evan, let's go." Kurt's eyes snapped into focus and he dragged Evan towards the solitary figure in the distance. "Hey, Phoenix, vait a minute!!" Kurt yelled after him.  
  
As Evan and Kurt approached, something silver flashed in the trees, leaving a flurry of leaves in its wake. Phoenix shifted and crossed his arms. Evan could have sworn he'd seen something in his hand, but they were still pretty far away. He did know that the sick feeling of dread that built within his chest wasn't imaginary.  
  
"Well, Chris and Adam. What's up?"  
  
"It's Kurt and Evan."  
  
Phoenix ground his teeth slightly, and shrugged. "Sorry, I picked up your names from other people."  
  
"Yeah, I know." Kurt was in his element, making friends was his specialty. "Zat's vhy ve came, to introduce ourselves."  
  
"Well, that's nice, to hear Pietro talk, you're just a bunch of mindless idiots. I'm glad he was wrong." Evan frowned, he couldn't tell if Phoenix was being sarcastic or sincere.  
  
"Ach, Pietro doesn't like us very much. I'm Kurt Wagner, and zis is Evan Daniels."  
  
Evan nodded his greetings, if Kurt noticed that neither of them was paying attention to him, he gave no sign. He continued to babble aimlessly, as Evan and Phoenix looked each other over. Evan began to see little signs that something really was off about Phoenix. His belt was just a strip of black cloth with designs burned in it, his hair was a strange sooty color. Evan narrowed his eyes. That really was soot. Why would Phoenix put ashes in his hair? And those brown highlights. who had dirty gray hair with ruddy brown highlights? It didn't look all that bad, but it was. weird. And Phoenix had a black and brown shirt on. Like rust. Rusty paint. Dark black pants, or were they brown? The butterflies in Evan's stomach rose in his throat for a second, and then the two of them locked eyes. 


	4. Chapter 4

~~ After School ~~  
  
"You know, zat vusn't so bad, vus it?"  
  
Evan didn't answer Kurt, he was thinking hard and couldn't afford to be distracted. He'd gotten a pass from his sixth period teacher and had gone to the library to do research. Oh, and the things he had found. He now knew Phoenix's coveted secret, and with that was the realization of just how twisted the guy was. At the moment, though, he was digging deeper. He knew all he needed to know about him, or her, but needed to decide if she would really pose enough of a threat to the X-men for him to use that knowledge. It was hard. He didn't want to scare her away, but could he risk keeping her so close to everything that meant anything to him? 'Kurt was right, she is looking for a way out, but he just didn't have it in him to find out what she did to stand out in that crowd, he couldn't live with himself if he was wrong. So he didn't let himself ask the question… Is there anything left of her to save, is it worth it?' Evan sighed. His fear was gone, he understood Phoenix better than she did, and he couldn't blame her for looking for help. If he thought about it, he could almost forgive her. But forgiving and placing blame didn't answer the question, it didn't help. With another gusty sigh, Evan tore his attention from within and looked at his Econ homework. Another impossible question invaded his thoughts. How was he supposed to get his homework done without a book? Once again he berated himself for being so absentminded as to forget it. He moaned. "This is impossible."  
  
"Vell, I can only zink of one person who has a book and who you just happen to know…"  
  
"No. I absolutely refuse to so don't even bother saying it, Kurt."  
  
"Okay, I'll see you in Econ next zemester."  
  
With a sigh, Evan picked up the phone.  
  
~~ Pietro's Room ~~  
  
Pietro hung up the phone, shaking with laughter. Daniels forgot his book? And now he wanted, no, needed help. What a trip. He must have been really desperate to even think about asking. Well, Pietro had no problem with proving his superiority to Evan. He had already finished all his homework, and had nothing to occupy his time. This was the perfect excuse to escape her. Pietro grabbed his book and peeked out of the door. He was still nervous about lunch, he had an awful feeling that if Kurt and Evan hadn't shown up when they did something bad might have happened to him. Come to think of it, maybe sacrificing a little pride and playing stupid might not be such a bad idea. He could just hang around until his dad got back and then it would be okay. Pietro took a deep breath and grabbed another school book and some paper. All he'd have to do is run outside and then he'd be okay. Pietro opened the door and raced down the hall.  
  
And ran straight into her. She looked rough, and angry, but not at him. Her eyes swirled and sparkled and Pietro could feel the worst coming, not to him, no, but it was there. Maybe she would leave after she got her revenge on whoever it was. She glared at him, or to be more precise, through him, at her new enemy. Pietro dodged to the side as she stalked past him. Without a backward glance, he ran out of the house, to Evan, his enemy, and to the X-men.  
  
~~ Phoenix's Room ~~  
  
The humiliation, he had looked right past their carefully designed disguise and seen what no one should have. He was a threat and needed to be removed. But while he had grown stronger, she had grown weaker. She felt her fear now. The fear, it had always been there, so had pain and anguish, all of it, but only now did it make itself known. All her defenses, years of work on the aura that the Masters had given her, gone, and not because of any physical or mental attack, no, he looked at her, that was it. Somehow he had shaken the fear and turned it on her. And it hurt, knowing that she wasn't invincible. It meant that she could be beaten, by a mutant, a stinking mutant. Not even a full grown mutant, like Charles Xavier or Magneto. Magneto, what a trip, he didn't even see her for what she was. Phoenix straightened up. Did that mean that the two men she feared most were not worthy of her fear? Was this…boy, the only one who could truly hurt her? Evan Daniels… was this the person she was looking for? No, she remembered, in the beginning she was looking for help, for respect, not fear. But now, she had to protect herself, should she keep looking for the person who drove her to this torture? What if they couldn't help, couldn't break the hold that the Masters had over her? Should she risk everything on this mutant, the only one who could disturb the Masters' grip?  
  
Phoenix breathed into her cupped hands, they were cold again. They were always cold for some reason. She thought about Evan Daniels again. It was too soon to act, she decided. He would make his motives clear in time. With that last thought, she walked to the wall and removed a picture. Then she sat down underneath the scorch mark and began to drift in the sacred place of the Masters. There was no fear in this place, only strength and wisdom. As the Masters began reciting her lessons, she put the day behind her. Here was what she was looking for, the voices said, there is nothing else, nothing better. Your duty is to protect it at all costs, destroy those who interfere with your duty. Destroy those who interfere with our duty. On and on the voices chanted. We give you power, you give us safety. Hone your talents, do not let our gift go to waste. Stay in practice. These are your duties. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Evan's Room ~~  
  
"C'mon, you've gotta be kidding me. Zat's too much like a ghost story to be true." Kurt broke the silence that followed Pietro's retelling of Phoenix's life.  
  
"It's true. I know for a fact." Pietro countered.  
  
"Evan, tell him it's not true. Evan?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."  
  
"You're not even listening!" Kurt accused.  
  
"Where is she now?" Evan ignored Kurt and spoke to Pietro.  
  
"I saw her on my way over here. She was really mad about something. I don't know what or at who, but I don't envy them."  
  
"Take me to her."  
  
There was silence.  
  
"You're kidding right? Didn't you hear vhat he just said about all zhose people she killed?" Kurt demanded.  
  
"C'mon Pietro, let's go." Evan picked up Pietro's books and headed for the door. Kurt and Pietro just watched him. "Well?"  
  
"We'll wait for you."  
  
"You're scared, Pietro?"  
  
"Yep. Terrified." Evan grabbed Pietro's wrist and physically dragged him home. It wasn't easy, Quicksilver moved like molasses when he wanted to and Kurt didn't help either. He was busy describing in vivid detail how Phoenix was going to kill the three of them. He was the most frightened of all, but couldn't seem to stop himself from describing all manners of torture and slow deaths.  
  
When they finally reached the house it was eight o'clock. The house was dark as night and if Kurt didn't have night vision, the three boys might have woken the dead with their stumbling over furniture. As it happened, Pietro's father wasn't home yet, and Phoenix was nowhere to be found, so they only woke the neighbors. They stood outside of Phoenix's room and debated whether or not to enter.  
  
"No way, man, a girl's room is sacred grounds." Evan argued.  
  
"But ve aren't supposed to know she's a girl." Kurt said.  
  
"What if she's in there, or comes in while we're in here?" Pietro was shivering like a homeless man in the middle of winter, even though the house was as warm as a spring day.  
  
"Vhy don't ve just peek. Pietro can stand watch, if she comes in he'll tell us and I'll 'port us out."  
  
"I don't like going in a girl's room without permission, man. You don't know what's in there."  
  
"Ve aren't going in, ve're just looking."  
  
"What if my dad comes home while you guys are here?"  
  
Evan thought fast. It was against his upbringing, but he really wanted to look. "A glance."  
  
Nightcrawler slowly opened the door and peeked in with Spyke and Quicksilver peering over him. Kurt withdrew with a hiss. "She's in zere, sitting on zhe floor."  
  
"What?" Pietro whispered furiously, desperately hoping that she hadn't seen them at her door. At that exact instant, the three of them heard a board creak around the corner. "He's home. Hide." Pietro dashed for his room and Evan shoved Kurt through the nearest door. They crouched in the dark and prayed that he wouldn't stop at their door. After a little while, they sensed, rather than heard Magneto, Father of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and the X-men's greatest foe, move past them. They breathed a sigh of relief that caught in their throats when they realized where they were. Phoenix's room.  
  
Kurt sent a silent prayer to God that she was asleep and that he and his friend could slip quietly out of the house. When he opened his eyes again, Evan was sitting beside Phoenix, staring up at the wall with her.  
  
~~ Pheonix ~~  
  
In her mind, she was kneeling at an alter at the foot of the Masters' table. Are you okay. Can you hear me. The voices had never said those things before. Maybe it was a test. She felt an arm around her waist and was startled out of her meditation. When she looked up, she saw him. How had he gotten to her sacred place? It had to be a test. Phoenix focused on the alter and the words of the chant, but panic filled her. Above the Masters' voices, was his. Answer me Phoenix. Are you okay. The words became questions and then, against her will, her ears began to separate his voice from the Masters'. All of a sudden, she was back in her room, back in the world of fear. She had failed.  
  
"Please, answer me, Phoenix. Are you alright?" His arm was still there, his voice still mocked her. He had done the impossible, shaken a thrall placed by the Masters, invaded their sacred spot, torn her from it and still lingered, still taunted her. With a shuddering sigh, she turned away from the wall. And saw his blonde hair, and dark shape, right there beside her, in her room. It was just too much. The world faded and Phoenix sagged in Evan's arms. 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
Evan looked at Kurt, he could just barely make out his shape against the darkness of the walls. He looked like he was praying, but it was too dark to be sure. He looked in the corner and saw Phoenix riveted to a dark spot on the wall. Evan crawled to where she sat and looked with her. He didn't see a thing. Evan reached out tentatively and found Phoenix's hand. It was ice cold, and he almost didn't notice the change around him because of the shock of it, almost… he felt a momentary reel of vertigo and then he was standing behind Phoenix in a blood red room. It was made of stone, but the light made it look like the walls dripped blood. Evan turned around and saw bodies hanging off giant hooks; they were nailed to the walls, columns, everywhere that there was room. There were racks with people screaming, begging for mercy, chains hanging from the ceilings some with whole people on them, others with just one or two limbs. Evan saw all this and understood just what kind of people had taken advantage of Phoenix, what kind of people had brought her to this place. He turned around and saw a stone alter, made of the same stone as the rest of the place, but he knew, that it wasn't a trick of the light that made it look like blood. There was a high table just beyond the alter and at the table sat seven skeletal looking creatures. Their mouths were twisted in frozen screams and they looked like they had been there for a while. Evan walked up the stairs to stand behind one of the bodies. These had been people once, he knew.  
  
Leaning forward, he picked up a paper that had been sitting in front of one of the corpses. He read it with disgust and confirmed his greatest fears. She had been normal once, but these seven… they had changed her, Evan didn't understand the technicalities of it, but somehow, they found a way to turn a normal person into a mutant. The only hitch, their first, and ultimately last, human test subject was less than sane to begin with, and part of the procedure involved playing god to the poor girl. She hadn't known, hadn't suspected, and in her mind, they were still alive, still leading her to her promised reward. She had what they called a double-mutant chromosome. Evan vowed to find out what that was and why it meant so much. Eventually, Evan just stopped reading and decided to get Phoenix out of there. He collected the papers and a set of CDs and walked back to Phoenix.  
  
"Are you okay? Can you hear me?" She reeled forward and Evan caught her. "Answer me, Phoenix. Are you okay? Please answer me." The world spun and the red light disappeared.  
  
"Ach, mein Gott!! Don't do that to me again." Evan set the papers and disks down. Phoenix sighed and looked up, right into Evan and Kurt's faces. Her whole body went stiff and then suddenly relaxed as she fainted.  
  
"Oops."  
  
"C'mon. let's get her on the bed so we can go and pretend this didn't happen." Pietro was back and jitterier than, well, anything that Evan knew of.  
  
"That's a good idea. What time is it?" He asked.  
  
"Midnight."  
  
"Let's go. Dump her on the bed and leave her." Before they left though, Evan grabbed the stuff he had gotten from that torture chamber.  
  
"What'd you find?" Pietro asked.  
  
"Nothing." Evan lied. Kurt said nothing as Evan quietly slipped the papers up his sleeve and the CDs in his pocket. Pietro couldn't see, it was too dark, but Kurt's eyes were made for the dark and he didn't miss a thing. "It was a waste of time."  
  
~~ The Next Day ~~  
  
"Scott, what's a double mutant gene?" Evan was sitting in the front seat today.  
  
"A what?" Scott's brow furrowed. He had heard the term before, but he couldn't remember where. "I have no idea, it sounds familiar, though. Why?"  
  
"Nothing, I was surfing the net and it was mentioned." In the back seat, Kurt was harassing Kitty.  
  
"I did not!! I would, like, never do that!"  
  
"Oh, but I saw you making googoo eyes at him, could it be love?"  
  
"Like, icksome!!"  
  
"Kitty's i~in l~ove! Kitty's i~in l~ove!" Kurt taunted in a singsong voice.  
  
"Scott, make him shut up!"  
  
"Both of you cool it." Scott warned them. He sighed, wondering how he was going to ask Evan and Kurt about where they went last night. He knew from experience with the two that it couldn't have been good, but he also didn't want to invade their privacy. Nevertheless, Professor Xavier had asked him to find out, and that was what Scott would do.  
  
"Uh, that is so not fair, did I go and blurt out how you keep sneaking out in the middle of the night?" Kitty demanded from Kurt. Out of the corner of his eye, Scott saw both Kurt and Evan pale. "I bet you didn't even know that we saw you two slink back home last night either. Where were you? You couldn't possibly have spent all that time at Pietro's house. Did you accept another dare?"  
  
Inwardly, Scott winced. He hadn't known that someone else had noticed Evan and Kurt's return.  
  
"Awwww, Kitty, that's none of your business!" Kurt complained.  
  
"Evan… you did, I bet you did. Well, you're in trouble anyway. The professor was looking for you last night and when he found out that you left with Pietro without telling anyone…" Kitty let the sentence hang. Professor Xavier didn't get upset easily, but finding two of his students creeping in after midnight when they had supposedly just walked a friend home really rocked his boat. 'And its not like Pietro and Evan are friends, they hate each other for crying out loud.' Scott sighed again, this time inwardly. It was getting harder and harder to keep up with the many mutants at the Institute. As one of the oldest, he felt that it was his duty to look out for the others, but maybe he was wearing himself a little thin… After all, he was only 17, and more and more mutants arrived every month. Scott took a deep breath and willed himself to calm down. As he slowly exhaled, he glanced at the rearview mirror.  
  
"Kurt," Scott hissed. "Your image-inducer…"  
  
Evan and Kitty looked at Kurt, who had reverted back to his normal form. Or rather, un-normal. Kurt ducked down, out of the immediate sight of the windows and began shaking the watch-like holo-projector on his wrist.  
  
"It isn't working, something's wrong with it." Kurt's naturally yellow eyes were wide with fright. They were almost at the school, and traffic had picked up.  
  
Scott gritted his teeth. "Okay, don't panic, it's not that bad. I don't think anyone saw. 'Port back to the Institute and get the Professor to fix it. While you're there, you can explain why you were sneaking around last night. Come back to school once you're done." For some reason, Kurt hesitated. Scott eyed him in the mirror and then glanced at Evan.  
  
"Yeah, man. Hurry before someone sees you." Evan told Kurt, but he was studying the road intently. Kurt teleported as soon as Evan said that, and Kitty rolled down her window to let the smell of brimstone out of the car.  
  
"Eww. Totally gross." She muttered. Evan didn't say anything, and Scott was too stressed out to think of a response. They parked and climbed out of the car in silence, and didn't say a word to each other until they parted ways to go to class.  
  
~~ At the Institute ~~  
  
"Kurt, your behavior is beginning to disturb me. You've been so restless, wandering the halls in the middle of the night, sneaking around after hours, and then you disappear with Evan and Pietro for four hours." Professor Xavier was sitting in his wheelchair, behind a large mahogany desk. Logan was in the office too, but he was far too tense to sit down. Instead, he paced behind Kurt who was seated in one of the comfortable armchairs in front of the desk.  
  
"Kurt," Logan stopped pacing and leaned on the Professor's desk. "You know you can trust us, whatever it is you guys did last night…" Logan's eyebrows twitched as though he had a very clear idea of what the teenage boys could be up to in the wee hours of the night. "I'm not gonna ask what, cause I don't wanna know, but make sure you have some kinda, you know, protection."  
  
Kurt looked at Logan for a second until what he had said sunk in.  
  
"Now, Logan-" The Professor began.  
  
"YOU THINK-ME AND-WHAT?!?!" Kurt jumped up and yelled. "WITH… EVAN AND PIETRO??? ARE YOU CRAZY???"  
  
Logan looked genuinely distressed. "Now hang on a sec-"  
  
"NO WAY!! FIRST YOU IMPLY THAT I'M…THAT I'M… AND WITH MY BEST FRIEND AND HIS WORST ENEMY?!?"  
  
"I never said anything about Piet-"  
  
"THE ONLY REASON WE LEFT WAS BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD THE BRIGHT IDEA TO VISIT PHEONIX AND THEN DECIDED TO GO TH-" Kurt winced and seemingly shrank in on himself. "I have to get to class." He 'ported out of the room before either of his seniors could speak.  
  
"Phoenix, huh? So it's a threesome."  
  
"Logan, I really don't think that's what they were doing." The Professor ventured.  
  
"Oh, you don't know kids these days. I wouldn't be surprised if that Pietro fella was mixed up in this too." Logan shook his head and gave a world-weary sigh. "What's the world comin' to anyway? As if being a mutant doesn't give you a bad enough image…" Logan stalked out of the office, still muttering about the follies of youth.  
  
The Professor waited until he was sure that Logan couldn't hear, and began chuckling softly. "Poor Logan…" His smile disappeared as his subconscious offered up a face and bio to go with the name. "Phoenix is here, then… so she made it. I wonder…" Charles Xavier thought for a moment more and then wheeled his way out of the office and to the room where Cerebro was kept. He had a long search ahead of him, and needed to get started as soon as possible. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Bayville High, Lunchtime ~~  
  
"You've gotta be kidding me." Evan stared at Kurt.  
  
"I wish."  
  
"Well, that's what you get for sneaking around at night." Kitty interrupted.  
  
"Logan is kinda jumping to conclusions, though. I thought it had more to do with Phoenix than Pietro. That's why you walked him home right, so he wouldn't have to face him." Scott watched Kurt and Evan sneak glances at each other. He saw where things were going and didn't like it one bit. If they were harassing Phoenix… then again, if Pietro was afraid of Phoenix to the point that he would ask his rival to walk him home so that he'd have company… If only Logan was right…that a scandalous circle was being played out…but Scott knew Evan and Kurt too well to give that idea much merit.  
  
"Daniels, we gotta talk." It was Pietro, and his voice was grim.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"She's making trouble. Ranting and raving about defending some masters."  
  
"And this means what to me?"  
  
"Oh, remember I mentioned how she was so mad about something yesterday…" Pietro's smile was heavier than a ton of bricks. "She was kinda upset about how you tore up her cover. It seems she thinks you're a threat." Pietro leaned forward. "That you're trying to interfere with the master's work. Did I mention she was supposed to be defending them?"  
  
"Evan, I'm scared." Kurt whispered.  
  
"Who are we talking about again?" Scott asked. Every nerve in his body sang that this was a result of whatever had gone down yesterday, but he still didn't know what was going on.  
  
"Oh man, what do we do?" Evan leaned against the table.  
  
"I don't know, but until this works itself out, I'm gonna play invisible. Maybe if we stay outta her way, she'll find someone else to get revenge on."  
  
"You know that won't work."  
  
Pietro shrugged. "It will for me. She didn't see me there, only you and a pair of demonic eyes…" he let that sink in. "And she really doesn't like you, whatever you said to her yesterday at lunch really set her off."  
  
"I didn't say anything to her."  
  
"Maybe she just doesn't like boneheads. I don't know and I don't care. I just thought I'd warn you so you wouldn't wander around by yourself."  
  
"What would she expect me to do…" Evan thought about the papers and CDs again. After a futile attempt at sleep, he'd scanned the papers onto his computer and then copied the CDs on it too. As an afterthought, he burned copies of everything on a new set of CDs and hidden them. Then he settled under the covers with a flashlight and a dictionary to finish reading the papers. They were pretty technical, but even reading them cold, Evan could guess their meaning. Phoenix wasn't really Phoenix at all, she was a random person pulled off the street and given treatments that were supposed to trigger the latent mutant gene that everyone had within them. By itself, the gene was useless, but when a special virus was released in the subject's bloodstream, it did something to the bacteria in the blood and set off a chain reaction that ended when the subject was left with a double mutant gene. That meant, by definition, that Phoenix was a manmade mutant. The seven Masters, as Phoenix called them, had carefully tested her, but all that she could do was create a small portal that only she could go through. Over time, it got bigger and stronger, but not enough to let anyone else through. The last test was done four years ago, in 1998. Right before she lit all those candles and burnt her house down.  
  
"I dunno, but if I were you, I'd pack up and leave."  
  
"Everyone runs from her. Of course! Where is she now?"  
  
Kurt and Pietro blanched. "Nein. Not this again. The last time you said that, we almost got caught by Magneto, and then you made us hide in her room. Nein." Kurt crossed his arms and looked to Pietro for support, but Pietro was gone. "Vas?"  
  
All of a sudden, a rough hand grabbed Evan by the scruff of his neck. "You got a lot of nerve showing up at school today." Scott stood, ready to defend his friends from the intruder, but at the same time, Kurt jumped into his arms, Scooby-Doo style. "Let's go Daniels. We'll settle this here and now."  
  
"Phoenix, you know I'm no match for you." Evan's voice was steady, and he stared straight into Phoenix's eyes. "You look different without the ashes and stuff in your hair." Scott looked closer, yes, it was Phoenix. His hair was a middle-ish tone of brown and he had red highlights, a serious change from the grey-black hair with the brown streak. His face was different, too. It looked more open, but somehow more hostile. The eyes though, they were the same, but instead of shifting, they were focused on Evan.  
  
"I have been disgraced. Because of you I am no longer worthy of wearing the symbol of the code of Guardians. I must avenge myself and protect the Masters."  
  
"They're dead, if you ever opened your eyes, maybe you'd see that."  
  
"The Masters are not dead. They are not alive, and have never been. They simply exist and that which exists cannot be dead or alive, destroyed or recreated. Your lies have no affect upon me; The Masters have granted me protection until I have completed my duty."  
  
"Get over it. You aren't the strongest person in the universe, stop making up lies to pretend that you are."  
  
"Are you implying that you are more powerful than I?"  
  
"I'm telling you that I can take your so-called Masters anytime, anywhere." Evan leaned towards Phoenix a fraction, just to make his point, and was pleased with the look of doubt that flickered across her face. Then he noticed Scott edging around Phoenix. He gestured frantically for him to stop, but never got a chance to see if Scott got the message.  
  
"You are attempting to call my bluff. The Masters would never lower themselves to combat with a mere mortal. Therefore, I will do it for them. I am empowered by their might and they shall furbish me as they see fit." Phoenix let go of Evan and took two steps back before swinging her fist. Evan didn't see it coming and got knocked flat by the blow. He was up in a flash and dodged another fist. He elbowed Phoenix in the stomach and as his opponent doubled over, hit her again on her back. She fell to the ground and swung her legs around and tripped Evan. In the moment that it took him to recover, she lashed out with her foot and caught him square in the jaw. Evan stumbled back a pace and she leapt to her feet. They faced off and out of the corner of his eye, Evan noticed the X-men assembling around the pair.  
  
"Stay out of this you guys. This is something I have to do alone." Scott looked like he had a problem with that, but Evan pushed the thought from his mind. If he could beat Phoenix, maybe she would see that there were more powerful people to ally herself with. Maybe he could help her escape the prison that she believed was the haven of her 'masters'.  
  
If and maybe… Evan's whole face hurt and he was tempted to used his mutant ability and harden his skin. 'I can't do that, there are too many people looking, and that would give me an unfair advantage over her.' Evan ducked as Phoenix lunged at him. He stood and threw her over his shoulder. There was a cheer from the crowd, but the two fighters were too intent on one another to notice. They faced each other again, trying to figure how to get the advantage. Evan feinted to the left and jumped at her, catching her completely unawares and knocking the breath out of her lungs. He retreated three steps and regarded her again. She was fast, but years of battling Pietro had given him the experience he needed to counter most of the worst she could dish out. She wasn't all that strong, either, the only advantage she had was surprise. Although she could deliver some numbing blows, it looked like that took as much out of her as it did him. Her endurance was better, as long as she practiced restraint, but she was convinced that she was infallible, she wouldn't hold back. On the other hand, pain seemed to have no effect on her, and even though she had hit Evan only twice, he was sore and tired. She looked like she was just getting started.  
  
'How do I turn this in my favor?' Evan thought furiously as the two combatants began edging around the circle that the crowd made for them. All this waiting just wasn't his style. He stopped traversing the perimeter of the circle and crossed to where Phoenix stood with a hilariously startled look on her face. She swung her arm around and Evan blocked it mechanically, only to take her knee full in his stomach. Inwardly he thanked God that he hadn't been closer or something a bit more precious than his stomach would have been aching. He noticed that this time, the hit didn't hurt as much as the other. Maybe she was losing steam… a flurry of fists convinced him otherwise, and instinctively he batted out with his own fist. It connected soundly with her temple and she stumbled backwards, trying to regain her balance. She failed, and landed on her bottom, still looking shocked and obviously stunned. Evan approached her and offered his hand.  
  
"Why don't we call it quits, I really don't like hitting ladies." She looked at his hand and then in his face. Without a word, she planted her foot in Evan's chest and jumped to her feet as he fell backwards. "Now that is what I call bad sportsmanship." Evan muttered as the crowd booed. He rolled to his feet and caught her foot. He pulled it towards him and punched Phoenix in the stomach. He seriously felt uncomfortable about hitting her anywhere else. She tore herself loose and toppled backwards. Regaining her balance, she retreated, possibly to rethink her strategy. Evan didn't give her a chance, though. He followed her up and landed a one-two combo in her stomach and grappled her to the ground. "Give it up, Phoenix, you can't win." She twisted her body around until she was lying on her back. Then she kneed him, hard, in the head. As his head pitched forward, she freed her hands from his embrace and gripped his head in the crook of his arm. Evan wasn't a fan of wrestling, but he knew a take-out move when he felt it, and frantically interlocked his fingers and bashed her on the head before she could break his neck. He scrambled for his feet. The realization that she was trying to kill him finally dawned on Evan. He watched her stagger to her feet and felt his blood run cold. She was serious about the whole avenging herself thing, she wouldn't stop fighting him until one of them died. Evan found that he couldn't move, couldn't breathe. He suddenly became aware of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and several dark bruises on Phoenix's arms. 'She must have really thin skin to bruise that bad so soon.' He thought idly. He looked at her looking at him and it struck him how confused she must have been. 'I could have won this fight twice over, and now I'm just standing here like an idiot. Say something Evan…'  
  
"Not bad, is that the best your Masters have?"  
  
Phoenix's eyebrows danced and Evan tensed, waiting for the worst, but she only bowed her head.  
  
"The Masters acknowledge your strength. I'm afraid there is no question about it, Evan Daniels. You are a threat to the Masters and it is my duty to eliminate all threats." She looked up and her eyes took on a strange glint. "I'm sure you understand."  
  
"Honestly, Haiden, you'll have to do better than that." Evan referred to the name that had once been Phoenix's, before she was picked up and experimented on.  
  
Phoenix/Haiden stopped and outright gaped at Evan. "I have a proposal. I've already proven that I'm stronger than you and your masters, why don't you join a winner now. There's really no point in this." Evan's mind raced even as his smooth voice cajoled Pheonix. He sounded like Pietro when he wanted something, even to himself. "They won't accept you back unless you kill me, and you can't do that, even with their help." He walked towards her slowly, knowing that if his plan didn't work, he may as well give up. "I know what you're looking for, and I know how to find it." That last comment made Phoenix's mind up for her. As soon as he said it, he knew she was his.  
  
"And just what do I have to do?"  
  
"For now, get yourself cleaned up. You look like hell." Evan turned and stalked out of the circle, which closed as soon as he passed through it. Scott was there by his side in an instant, so were all the others. He couldn't see Phoenix, and that suited him just fine, at the moment the only thing he wanted to see was the back of his eyelids. 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Phoenix ~~  
  
Phoenix was mad. Raving mad. Never before had she been so humiliated. 'A MUTANT! A BLOODY GODDAMNED MUTANT!'  
After the fight she had stormed off campus and walked the mile-and-a-half back home. Or rather, to Pietro's home. She grimly acknowledged the twinge of sorrow because over the years, she had realized it never went away and to avoid it was futile. But still, she had nothing now, even her clothes were once the property of someone else. All her work, belongings, even her pet turtle were gone and no one knew or cared where they had gone to. 'Where did I go wrong? I don't recall breaking any rules, why did they take everything?' But even as she thought this, she knew. It was the price she paid for being such a loyal friend and sister.  
  
Her concentration was broken by Eric Magnus, Pietro's father, when he dropped a pot in the kitchen. He winced and turned around to pick it up, and then he noticed Phoenix. He appeared genuinely startled to see her so early, but didn't press the issue. He knocked on her door a while later and said he left some food on the hall table for her and that he had to go out again. Then he left.  
  
Phoenix sat in her room and thought for a long time. She thought about Donatello, who had once been her turtle, and she thought about what she remembered of her family. Her parents had gotten divorced, then her mother disappeared. After that, her sister did too, only to turn up a few months later, raped and murdered, the body dumped in a concrete foundation. Then Hans got sick and died. The police came and took Donatello and all her stories and poems. And then she met someone who changed her life.  
  
Phoenix thought about what Evan had said about her serving as his underling. She really didn't want to, but if he knew about Haiden, then he must know how to find him again. 'Of course, he could have just been bluffing again.' Phoenix reminded herself. She heard the door open slowly. It was Pietro, she could tell because he always snuck around, trying to tell if she was nearby. She stopped thinking long enough to follow him by sound, through the kitchen, up the stairs and into his own room, which was right at the top of the flight of stairs. Then she fell back into her depression. Around seven o' clock, the telephone rang. Pietro picked it up. Half an hour later, Magnus came back inside. He paused at her door, probably checking to see if she ate, and then went back downstairs, where his room was.  
  
Phoenix knew their schedules by heart. She listened and followed through their routine with them, never moving, never making a sound. After a while, she ran out of things to think about. Then she just sat there and waited, for what she had no idea, but that's what she did.  
  
Sure enough, at seven minutes after midnight, there was a small knock on her door. She didn't say anything, but he came in anyway.  
  
"You okay?" Evan asked.  
  
How she would have loved to answer him. Of course she wasn't okay. She had nothing, the last wisps of honor and dignity had been stripped away the moment Evan had decided to let her live. Whether he had sincerely meant his offer of peace, or whether he had been mocking her, it didn't matter any more. Phoenix didn't say anything. She wasn't worthy of anything, definitely not his pity, which he would give freely if she made any move to say something.  
  
"Are you still mad- Wait. I know you're still mad, but I wasn't trying to embarrass you." He waited for her response. "Did you put something on those bruises?" There was a rustle, someone else was in the room. Phoenix searched the room without moving but couldn't see anything. "I really wish you would say something." They sat in silence for a while. "Did you even bother to look at your bruises?" he sighed. The closet light came on and Phoenix saw her second guest. It, he, was blue with a tail that swept the ground behind him.  
  
"I've got first aid." He said. It was Kurt's voice, Phoenix realized. Was he a mutant, too?  
  
"C'mon, Phoenix. Let us help you."  
  
"You…are mutants."  
  
"Ja." Kurt answered, getting his German and English mixed up as usual. "Not half bad, doncha' think?" He posed. He looked ridiculous, but that was probably the point. Phoenix maintained her silence and resumed staring at a loose fiber in the woven rug by the bed. The silence dragged on, and Kurt sighed at her lack of appreciation of his joke. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'It probably wasn't funny anyway.'  
  
"Phoenix, look, we aren't trying to hurt you. Why won't you let us help?"  
  
More silence.  
  
"Phoenix?" Evan shifted positions, now he was kneeling and staring into her eyes. "Who is Haiden Malcolm? Where'd he come from?"  
  
Phoenix tried not to let it show, but the question startled her. Did he really not know, or was he trying to trick her? But how did he find out about Haiden in the first place?  
  
"I know you know who I'm talking about, your eyebrows did that weird thing again. 'Fess up, who is he?"  
  
"Why should I tell you?" she returned.  
  
"Because I could always ask him myself."  
  
"He's here?"  
  
"He's somewhere." Evan retorted.  
  
"How do I know you aren't trying to pull my leg?"  
  
"If you trust me a little, I can prove to you I'm not."  
  
"What you mean is that I have to trust you not to pull my leg to prove that you aren't pulling my leg…" at his confused stare, she sighed. 'He's good, but I'm better, let him think I'm going with his little plan. Then I can hit him when he least expects it.' Inwardly, Phoenix smiled, she took her thrills when and where she could, and this was going to be quite a hayride.  
  
~~ The Next Morning ~~  
~Thursday~  
  
Evan dragged himself out of bed and to the shower. Every bone in his body hurt from the fight yesterday, and his mind was fuzzy from staying up so late at Phoenix's house. "Technically, it's still Magneto's house, Evan. You better not forget what'll happen if anyone finds ou-' Evan gasped. He'd forgotten about his meeting with the professor. 'Aw, man, he and Auntie 'Roro are gonna kill me.'  
  
Sure enough, as soon as he put his foot on the stairs, Logan was on him.  
  
"Hey, bub, you got some explainin' to do the Professor and yer Aunt. And, look if there's anyth-"  
  
"Yeah Logan, Kurt told me at lunch yesterday. And its not what you think it is either…" Evan didn't wait to see if Logan belived him. If he could just make it outside without anyone else noticing…  
  
"Evan. Where are you sneaking off to now?" Ororo's voice was as stern as it ever got, and Evan knew he was in for some trouble.  
  
"I was just going to school, Auntie."  
  
"Don't 'Auntie' me, young man. Get in here."  
  
With a miserable sigh, Evan turned around and headed for the lounge. As he crossed the threshold, he saw that everyone was there, Scott, Kitty, Jean, Kurt, Ororo, the Professor and Rogue. 'Terrific, public humiliation.' Logan pushed him further in the room and took up his usual position behind Xavier and to the side.  
  
"Now that we're all assembled, the meeting can begin." The Professor began. Evan walked to the couch and flopped down. "As you know by now, a new student has arrived at Bayville High. He goes by the name of Phoenix Malcolm."  
  
"Yeah, the guy who Evan beat to a pulp yesterday." Scott muttered with disapproval.  
  
The professor continued as though he hadn't heard. "He is extremely dangerous and even more confused, so I advise avoiding any confrontation with him."  
  
"Too late." Scott said with a shake of his head. Jean elbowed him slightly and he stopped.  
  
"Because he is here, in Bayville, I'm going to have to keep track of you all to ensure your safety. Phoenix is violent when provoked and often times, doesn't let you know that you've upset him. On this note, I'd like to address our curfew policy. Since some of you have trouble telling time, we've changed it to nightfall. If you aren't back at the mansion by then, you should either be at a school related activity or accompanied by an adult. There are no exceptions." He stressed the last sentence through the moaning and groaning.  
  
"But professor, that's, like, eight o' clock." Kitty whined  
  
"You wanna make it seven, half-pint?" Logan growled.  
  
"Never mind."  
  
"Kurt, Evan, you've broken curfew two nights in a row, this is unusual behavior for both of you, and I believe you owe us an explanation."  
  
Kurt looked at Evan, who looked at the ground.  
  
"Professor, this isn't the kinda thing-" Logan started to say.  
  
"I can't tell you, but it's cool now. We won't sneak out again."  
  
"I know you won't sneak out anymore, but I don't know what would compel both of you leave in the middle of the night. You went through obvious pains to disguise your absences and if something important enough to get Kurt out of bed at night is going on then we need to know about it." Professor Xavier spoke in his no-more-nonsense voice and his gaze burned right through Evan.  
  
"C'mon Evan, just tell him. We'll leave if you want." Kitty whispered.  
  
"I'm not telling. It's not my place." Evan stood and glared right back at the professor. "I'd rather join the Brotherhood than tell you and if you push me I will." With that, Evan walked out the door, picking up his bookbag and instinctively patting the compartment with the disks in it. They were still there. As long as he had those documents, he was ready to leave. And so, without the slightest hesitation, he walked out of the Xavier Institute. 


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Scott ~~  
  
He had watched them come slinking in again the night before and once more cursed himself out for not telling the professor about the fight. Then he watched Evan stand up and threaten to denounce the X-men and then walk away. To Scott, the world was coming to an end.  
  
His carefully controlled universe was falling apart, torn between Evan and some unknown menace. "Oh this is perfect. Phoenix, the freak and Evan the deserter. Yeah, they make a pretty picture. I bet Lance had this planned, get one of the X-men in a fight, possibly suspended and then get him to join the brotherhood. Over what? Phoenix Malcolm." He spat, completely unaware that he was talking out loud and that everyone had fallen silent. "That filthy, backwards, cross dressing psychopath who's convinced that some gods or something are telling her to run around beating the snot out of people. It's enough to make me puke, and then Kurt just goes right along with it. I always thought he was smarter than that, but hey, what does Scott know? He's only the one who puts his reputation on the line to save their butts. I should've told the professor as soon as we got back from school, but I had to be nice this time. How am I gonna face Lance?" Scott's shoulders drooped. "How am I gonna face myself?" With a heavy sigh, he stood. "I'm gonna see if I can't talk him out of this." He said in a louder voice and followed Evan.  
  
Everyone just stared after him.  
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
"I can do this. I can do this." Pietro peered down the stairs. From his position he could just barely see Phoenix sitting at the kitchen table. Magnus' voice rumbled over the sizzling frying pan. Pietro pulled back into his room, took a deep breath and squinted at the wall. "She won't hurt you when dad's there." All of a sudden his knees gave out and he collapsed on the floor. Luckily, he caught himself and the twosome downstairs didn't hear. Against his will, he began crying. "This isn't fair, why can't she just go away?" He tilted his head up. "If there's anyone up there, I swear, I'll be nice to Toad and hey, I'll even join the X-fr- X-Men, if only you'll make her go away. Please." He stared up for a moment longer, but when he got no response, he sighed and pulled himself together. "Just go downstairs. Don't think, just do it." Pietro struggled to his feet and mentally braced himself. With one last glance at the ceiling, he raced down the stairs.  
  
She glanced at him as he fled past her and grabbed some toast. Pietro figured she was really into whatever Magneto had to say, because she didn't harass him. Nevertheless, the moment he entered the room, his head reeled from the almost tangible aura of hate and violence that she filled the room with. 'Just get your books and go.' He told himself. He zipped past Phoenix, but at the last second her hand shot out and grabbed his arm.  
  
"Aren't you going to say something, Pietro?"  
  
In truth, Pietro was scared out of his mind. The aura only grew stronger, and his skin burned where she touched him. "H-hi." He whispered.  
  
"Have a seat." With her foot she slid a chair back for him and he had no choice but to sit. "When was the last time we sat down and talked? It feels like forever." Phoenix had only been in Bayville for a week, and during that time Pietro had instinctively avoided her like the plague. They had never 'sat down and talked' but Pietro just shrugged and crammed his mouth with toast as an excuse not to talk as he warily sat in the chair and scooted away from Phoenix.  
  
"Tell me about Evan Daniels and Kurt Wagner."  
  
Pietro's mouth went dry and he choked on his toast. "Whudayawannaknow?"  
  
"Their weaknesses, their strengths, their personalities…anything."  
  
"Can't help you." Pietro muttered with a shake of his head.  
  
"So you let them in the house without knowing anything about them?"  
  
Magnus stared at Pietro and then Phoenix. "He did WHAT?"  
  
"Oh, was I not supposed to mention that? I thought they were friends. After all, they're always on the phone and they even walked him home once." Phoenix studied Magnus' expression. "They even help each other with homework."  
  
"Pietro…" Magneto hissed. All Pietro could do was wince and wait for the worst.  
  
"I was just hoping you could fill me in on those two. They have great potential." Her tone drew Magneto's and Pietro's gaze towards her. Her eyebrow was cocked and the glint in her eyes gave unlimited definitions for the word 'potential.'  
  
"Come on Pietro. Be a pal."  
  
"Igottago." Pietro was gone so fast that neither Magneto nor Phoenix saw his departure.  
  
"Do you see now?" Phoenix turned to Magneto.  
  
"Yes, all too clearly." He replied and his eyes narrowed.  
  
Meanwhile, in his mad flight, Pietro had not thought to head for any particular destination. He pulled up short at the sight of a copper signpost.  
  
Xavier Institute For Gifted Youngsters  
Founded by Professor Charles Xavier  
March, 19--   
  
~~ The Xavier Institute ~~  
  
Logan stalked down the halls banging on doors and bellowing for any stragglers to get out of bed. After he scared the daylights out of Kitty and Rogue by pounding on their door, he gave an evil glare to the world in general and went downstairs. His intuition was telling him that it was going to be a bad day.  
  
At that exact same time, Pietro was standing outside the gate of the Institute, wondering what to do next. He made up his mind and slipped through the wrought iron fence and made a dash for the trellis that stood beside Evan and Kurt's room.  
  
Logan, unaware, began harassing Bobby for bothering the girls.  
  
~~ Kurt ~~  
  
He had heard Logan coming and hid under the bed. Just as he was peeking from his hiding place he saw a ghostly pale hand tapping on the window. He cautiously approached and upon seeing Pietro, threw the window open and dragged him inside.  
  
"What are you doing, man? Do you really vant to die?" He demanded as he drew the curtains and Pietro flitted around the room.  
  
"Where's Evan?" Pietro said. "Phoenix told my father that you guys came over."  
  
Kurt sank onto the bed. "So vhat'd he say?"  
  
"I wasn't listening, not much, he was too pissed to say much, he's gonna kill me though."  
  
"We have to tell the Professor."  
  
"Yeah, tell everyone that you and me have gone and spied on Phoenix. How about you wait til I'm safely out of the country?"  
  
"The Professor vill help. You know he vill. Vhy else did you come here?"  
  
"I don't even remember coming here. One second he was asking me what the Hell I was thinking and the next I was staring at the sign in the front."  
  
"Yeah well, I don't think he's too happy with me anyhow. We kinda refused to tell him what was going on and then Evan told him to get off his case or he was going to join the brotherhood."  
  
"HE'S GOING TO MY HOUSE?!"  
  
"Yeah. I guess so. Scott vent after him."   
  
"Whatarewegonnado? Whatarewegonnado? I'mtooyoungandhandsometodie. Idontwannadie." 


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Downstairs ~~  
  
"Eric, I trust my students to make responsible de-"  
  
"I trusted my son and look where he is."  
  
"Pietro has be-"  
  
"Find him, Charles. Tell me where he is."  
  
The Professor and Magneto faced off for the space of a minute before Xavier opened his consciousness to find Pietro.  
  
"No." he whispered when he felt Pietro's panic emanating from the second floor of the Institute. From Kurt and Evan's room.  
  
"You see the gravity of this situation. We have been housing traitors. Phoenix apprehended the other boy coming from the Police Station with an FBI agent."  
  
Despite himself, Charles Xavier remembered all the trouble that Kurt and Evan had caused in the last week. Could they really be spies? He refused to answer the question. He double checked and felt Kurt's anxiety change to cold fear along with Pietro. A few moments later Logan could be heard through the thick ceiling.  
  
"We must remove them."  
  
"You can't just kill them. I don't think they would do something like that." Kitty yelled at Magneto. "Professor, tell him that they wouldn't tell on us."   
  
"Evan would do no such thing. This is his home." Storm added.  
  
There was a commotion on the stairs and Logan appeared, dragging Kurt and Pietro with him and looking madder than the devil. He pushed them down the stairs and in the middle of the circle of mutants.  
  
Everyone fell silent.  
  
"Charles." Magneto and Storm said in unison.  
  
The Professor turned to stare out a window.  
  
"We can make this easy for you." Kurt whispered. He reached for Pietro's arm and 'ported away.  
  
"Evan and Pietro. Never, in a million years, would I have put them down as partners in crime." Hank McCoy stared dismally at the spot that Kurt and Pietro had occupied a moment ago.  
  
"Partners in crime? Whadda ya mean partners in crime?"  
  
"Magneto claims that the three of them have been spying on us for the government."  
  
"Evan? Spy? Nah, I figured out why they keep sneakin' out at night."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Evan and Kurt are convinced that someone's been framing Phoenix and they're using Pietro to get to whoever they think it is."  
  
"What?" Everyone stared at Logan.  
  
"I can do detective work too, y'know. Some guy named Haiden is mixed up in this, I think he's been using Phoenix's identity."  
  
"So what were the documents that Evan gave the agent?"  
  
"Maybe pr-"  
  
Logan was cut off by the sound of choppers and sirens.  
  
"We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands on your head and you will not be harmed."  
"Maybe not." Logan's mind raced. He honestly didn't believe that Evan ratted out on the X-Men, and his gut was telling him that Pietro and Kurt were innocent as well.  
  
"I repeat, come out with your hands high or we will open fire."  
  
"They don't know how many people are in here, a few of us will go out there and the rest of you, hide. Don't tell me Scott isn't back yet…"  
  
Magneto watched, a silent judgment written on his face, as the majority of the mutants went into hiding throughout the Institute. It was obvious that Xavier had anticipated such an event. In less than a minute, the room had cleared significantly, leaving only Magneto, Wolverine, Storm, Toad, Avalanche, Shadow Cat, Mystique, Blob, Charles Xavier and Jean Grey behind. They all looked at one another, emotions warring with each other in their eyes.  
  
"Let's go then. When Scott gets back he can organize a team to get us out."  
  
"You have a lot of confidence in the boy." Magneto observed.  
  
Logan shrugged. "There's no one else after this." And that was the closest he would let himself get to complimenting Scott. With one last glance around him, Logan led the others out of the Xavier Mansion, fiercely praying to all that was holy that Pietro, Kurt and Evan were innocent and that Scott returned with them in time to save their asses.  
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
It had been going well until He showed up. Evan had walked into the Police Station, told the lady at the front desk about the disks he'd found and in about five minutes he was discussing the find with a handful of cops and an FBI agent named Randolph Someone-or-other. He left the building, shook hands with the agent and then Scott walked up. He fell in stride with Evan, never saying a word, but somehow apologizing anyway. For the tenth time in an hour, Evan wished that he'd remembered to bring his skateboard. And then the damn helicopters landed practically on top of them. Perfect. Men dressed in black with guns ran up to the pair yelling for them to put their hands in the air. And they did, but that one idiot had to sneak up on Scott and take his glasses off. Remembering the scene that followed made Evan feel very old and very tired. Some people just didn't learn. It had taken Scott a second to shut his eyes, but in that one second, he had blown up two helicopters and taken the ceilings off half of Bayville. Evan heaved a gusty sigh. Someone had panicked and stepped on Scott's glasses. He always kept a spare, but the militants refused to let him put them on. He ended up melting two more helicopters before the wise asses let up and let Scott have his glasses. They ended up driving to the military base where Scott and Evan were now being interrogated. I bet Phoenix had something to do with this. 


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pietro and Kurt ~~  
  
"So, what now?" Kurt asked the wind.  
  
"We can join the circus." Pietro snapped back. Kurt only gave him an amused glance. They were plodding along the road, trying to decide what their next move was going to be. Well, that's what they had been doing for the last three hours. Then they just argued and after that they each refused to speak to the other.  
  
"Why did I let you talk me into this madness?" Pietro grumbled.  
  
"It wasn't me. But I see where you're coming from. I'm beginning to think that Evan tricked me into this. How did we end up wandering on the side of the road again?"  
  
"Dunno. I think you 'ported us in someone's house and we just ran like idiots and once I slowed down and started looking for you, you had already found the damn road and were convinced that someone would pick us up." Pietro gave an exaggerated sigh.  
  
"Do you know how to read these interstate signs?"  
  
"That's a speed limit."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"And no. I don't."  
  
"What are we gonna do?"  
  
"You can start by shutting up."  
  
"Hey, let's ask him." Kurt pointed across the empty road. Pietro followed his finger, and sure enough there was a guy, around their age, trudging just as wearily in the opposite direction.  
  
"I don't kno-" Pietro stopped. Kurt was already halfway across the road. Narrowing his eyes, he followed.  
  
"Hi, I'm Kurt. Where are you going?"  
  
"Haiden. 'M looking for someone."  
  
Pietro caught Kurt's eye and tried to get him to leave the stranger alone, but Kurt just wasn't listening.  
  
"Is your name Haiden Malcolm? I've heard you mentioned before. Who are you looking for?"  
  
"Yes, I am Haiden Malcolm. I'm looking for my little sister."  
  
He kept walking, oblivious to the looks that the two mutants were throwing each other.  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"Evelyn. She probably doesn't operate under that name though. The last I heard, she was calling herself Phoenix." He gave a short laugh at that, and noticing Pietro's look, he explained.  
  
"It doesn't matter anymore. I don't care who knows. I am the last of a very illegal and very controversial experiment. The idea was to take a normal human and change them into a mutant. The scientist who came up with the idea thought if you can make a human into a mutant then you can make a mutant into a human. They killed him. Or maybe I did. I forget now."  
  
"You know about genes, right? Recessive and dominant? Well the mutant gene is in everyone, but its recessive. For some reason you need at least three pairs of it to even have the slightest mutant power. Basically, if you have three sets of the mutant gene, you test positive for a mutant test. Four means you can do stuff, walk through walls or whatever it is that mutants do all day. Five of 'em, and you're born different. If you have five mutant gene pairs then you don't look like a human. You don't have to reach your limit to use mutant powers like everyone else."  
  
"What they did to me was change my genetic makeup so that I had three pairs. You know, those mutant tests aren't accurate at all. There's an 80% chance that it'll miss a mutant. And it did. When I was tested, I came out clean. But I already knew I was a mutant. I didn't say anything though. I'm not stupid. I was a four. And then they changed my DNA. Ha, I became a seven. To keep it simple, that was supposed to be an impossibility. There are only five pairs of genes that affect whether a person is a mutant or not. So I split into two bodies."  
  
"Ever wonder what happens to dead people? Nothing. They go to whatchamacallit… parallel universe I think its called. It's just like this one, only they aren't dead in it. Same old same old. Except for me. I can go back and forth between them. Stuff happened, to keep it simple, I found my sister. She wanted to live again, so I gave her the extra body. She ran off for a year or two. I got over it, settled in a nice family, and then she showed up again. She was mad because she thought I forgot about her. So she started playing mind games with me. Killing strays and blowing up buildings. Crazy shit. I got blamed for it. No one believed I was innocent, except this one cop. She killed him and made it look like suicide. And then she took my name. Phoenix Haiden Malcolm. I always thought it was a mouthful. Never liked it either. Always wrote Haiden on my papers and things." He shook his head as if to clear the thoughts from his mind.  
  
"I have to stop her. I've been following her for the longest now. She's waiting for me. Once I get my body back… we'll see what happens. I might just destroy it. That will take care of things nicely. I can start over."  
  
"Great story, can you explain it to my dad, 'cause I'm kinda on his hit list thanks to your sister."  
  
Haiden's eyes glazed over for a second. "'Fraid not. Well, not yet at any rate. We'll have to rescue them first."  
  
"Rescue?"  
  
"She's doing it again. She's playing god." 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ At the Military Base, Fort Braddock ~~  
  
"I'm telling you, this isn't all of them. You left the two most dangerous ones out there. When they find out they're gonna tear this place apart looking for their friends."  
  
"Look Ms. Malcolm," an elderly man in a uniform drawled. "We're having trouble enough just keeping the one we've got under control. Two mutants isn't that bad, all things considered, and they won't last long by themselves."  
  
"You are seriously underestimating the destructive capabilities of the two of them."  
  
The man nodded. "We're ready for them, but we can't spare any men to search for them. when they get here, they'll get what's coming to them."  
  
Phoenix doubted that last statement, but was willing to admit that Kurt and Pietro were the two people least likely to work together and even less likely to be any trouble. What bothered her was that she had no idea how much they knew or where they were taking their information. Just then Logan gave a shout and ripped his arm free of its bindings. Yes, thought Phoenix as the man tore his way through four soldiers in full armor, Fort Braddock had their hands full with this crowd. But, she toyed with the thought of two small mutants with no offensive attacks wandering around alone. And no one would think twice if they just… disappeared.   
  
Pleased that she had found something to do, Phoenix did an about face and breezed out of the compound, shaking hands and sharing smiles with dozens of soldiers who had heard of her discovery of the mutants.  
  
From a separate plane, Haiden watched and planned how he would lead Kurt and Pietro. Phoenix was too powerful for them, and rescuing the mutants was too dangerous, especially since Kurt was reaching his breaking point. His true mutant ability would show itself soon, and he needed someone he was comfortable with to be there.  
  
Reviewing his options didn't help, so Haiden shrugged and decided to be spontaneous. It wasn't his strong point, but it would get him through. As silent as death, he slid from the separate universe and stood, absorbing the sounds and sights of Fort Braddock. With a thought, he teleported to the holding cells where the mutants were being held prisoner. A part of him said that it was useless, that even if they escaped, they had no where to go, but when Haiden was being spontaneous, he was spontaneous.  
  
Everything stopped when he appeared in the room, even Logan paused for a second to gawp at the stranger. Then he remembered himself and began his assault again. Two seconds more and Lance was free and the fighting began with renewed energy. Haiden dodged past several guards, shorting electric locks, and cutting bonds as he went. In short order, all the mutants were freed. They split into groups to escape, Haiden found himself fleeing with Jean Grey, Wolverine, and Magneto. As they rounded a corner and looked for a direct way out, Toad fairly flew down the hallway to join them.  
  
"Scott, Evan, Xavier and Lance are going straight up and the rest are just plowing their way through the building. You guys are headed further into the base." He stammered when he caught his breath.  
  
"So how do we get out?" Jean asked.  
  
"Dunno, but it ain't this way."  
  
There was rhythmic pounding on the ground that got louder and louder every second.  
"We better find out fast, I can't dodge bullets and it takes a lot out of me to heal." Haiden noted.  
  
"Well, y'know, they think we're trying to escape, so they're gonna run to block the exits. If we go deeper in and make our own way out from there… its not like they know we're lost." Toad supplied. Everyone stared at him for a moment, amazed at his thought process.  
  
"Down it is." Conceded Magneto and Logan nodded. With that, they slipped down a side passage and ran as fast as they could.  
  
~~ Charles Xavier, Lance, Scott and Evan ~~  
  
The going had been good until one of the soldiers had dropped a grenade on them. Charles Xavier warned them a second before it went off and Lance dropped about a ton of rock on it. Even though it was dampened, the blast knocked the wind out of them and they lost precious time recovering. Now they were running in the other direction as gunners poured from the ceiling like water. Between breaths, Lance admitted that his head was aching so badly that he couldn't use his power much longer. Scott decided to detour and check how everyone was faring, and led the group into a small room that he had noticed when he first arrived at the compound. He bolted the door and waited as the thunder of booted feet passed.  
  
"Anyone hurt?" he whispered.  
  
"I can't feel my arm," returned Evan. "and I think I'm bleeding pretty bad."  
  
"Give me a second to find a light, Wheat about you two?" Scott asked the Professor and Lance.  
  
"I'm cold, sweaty and tired. My head is killing me, a shitload of police with M-16s are chasing me and I'm sitting in the middle of them. I'm fine Summers. Just peachy."  
  
"You smoke, Lance?" Scott asked, still searching for a light switch.  
  
"Actually, no."  
  
"We need light. We can't do anything without a light." Scott said again. Suddenly he turned to the Professor and in the dim light, Lance noted how pale Scott seemed. "Professor?"  
  
"Calm down, Scott. Now listen, do you feel a breeze? Coming from that way. If we follow it, it may lead us out."  
  
Lance inched his foot out and took a step deeper into the room, following the draft. After a minute, he turned back and called to the others. "There are stairs back this way, but it not as dark as over there. If we can get the old man down about, oh eighty to a hundred stairs, we'll be able to at least see each other when the military knocks down the door and kills us."  
  
"Professor? What should we do?" Scott looked at the man who had been a father to him and was surprised to see how old he appeared. Lance had climbed the stairs and gave a short laugh.  
  
"I'll carry the old man if its too much work for ya', Summers. You get the chair." Smirking because he had finally bested his chief rival, Lance carefully lifted Professor Xavier and waited for Scott and Evan to descend the stairs. They were clumsy, bumping the chair against the walls and running into things, Lance was half afraid that they would be heard, but as he followed, a bit more quietly, he heard no sound of pursuit. As he set the Professor back in his wheelchair, he looked up at Evan, who was staring strangely at something behind Lance.  
  
Scott made a small, frightened noise and Lance turned, ready to scare off whatever bug or rodent he had found. Professor Xavier noticed the two of them staring and wheeled himself around.  
  
"Scott…" he whispered. "Oh my God. Scott."  
  
Scott could say nothing though, as he stared dumbfounded at the ragged stump where his left arm should have been. 


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Mystique, Blob, ShadowCat, Storm ~~  
  
They were running, where to was anyone's guess, but it was Mystique's personal experience that in times like these, it didn't matter where you were running to, but where you were running from that counted. As it was, they were all behind Blob, who was bowling officers over like an over-sized ball knocking aside miniature pins. It was very convenient, Mystique noted, and she would be sure to remember it for future reference. They were running up a slight incline that circled around the compound and would, presumably, take them out. Of course, Mystique was expecting difficulties. By now half the soldiers would be waiting for them, as the mutants made no attempt to disguise their escape. As they ran, Mystique picked up weapons from fallen soldiers and passed them out to Storm and Blob. The girl, ShadowCat, refused to touch the guns, and had glared accusingly at Storm when she had accepted a machine gun. Thankfully, the older woman was more willing to do what needed to be done than that ungrateful brat. Mystique scooped up a grenade from a woman who had been crushed by one of Freddie's arms.  
  
Storm touched Mystique's arm and pointed to her ear. Mystique strained for a moment but then her sharp ears detected the whir of a 'copter. Nearly there, she thought, mentally preparing herself for the upcoming battle. It was stupid to rush into the trap like this, she thought. At least I'll escape alive. She intended to drop back as the others ran into the open and shift into the form of a broken and bruised officer, but after seeing Blob take three shots in the chest at point-blank, she had given the odds of him surviving a slight tweek. About one in a thousand as opposed to one in a million, that was all the hope she could afford to spend on him.  
  
They finally reached the grate that would let them out of the building. With little more than a casual push, Blob heaved the welded grate out of the foundation and into the air. A dark blur erupted from the opening and the startled group found themselves staring at a pair of golden eyes.  
  
"Kurt?" Kitty ran forward and hugged him.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, I'm going to drop you guys off in the woods and Pietro will lead you away. Where's everyone else?"  
  
"We split up." Storm offered and Kurt squinted up at the bright moon that hung at its peak.  
  
"Okay, I'll find them later. Storm, do something about that moon. Not yet, wait til you're in the forest. When we get there, no talking at all. Phoenix is looking for us." Kurt took a deep breath, grabbed Blob's hand and disappeared. In about five seconds he was back for Kitty, and then Storm and finally Mystique.  
  
In the forest was Pietro, waiting to lead the mutants to a safehouse on the other side of the woods. He pointedly looked up at the moon and Storm summoned thick rain clouds to cover it. That done, the group of six headed through the woods, leaving the noise and search lights behind. And our friends, thought Kurt, and as if he had overheard the thought, Pietro looked at him, eyes promising that they would return and collect the rest of the mutants.  
  
~~ Jean Grey, Wolverine, Toad, Magneto, Haiden ~~  
  
It was truly the end of the road for them. They had taken a wrong turn somewhere and suddenly a steel portcullis had dropped over the door, not even Wolverine could cut through them and now he rattled the adamantium bars like an animal imprisoned. Haiden winced, he had to stop making jokes about things that weren't funny. Nevertheless, the irony of having two mutants named after animals trapped in that cage of a room wasn't lost on him. Haiden looked over at the unconscious Magneto, praying that the Master of Magnetism would wake soon. One soldier had the presence of mind to throw a grenade, rather than attack the mutants head on, and while his aim was horrible, a grenade was a grenade and the weapon was renowned for the havoc its debris caused. A cinder block had caught Magneto on the side of the head, and if Jean Grey hadn't used her telekinesis, he may have been crushed by the falling blocks.  
  
Wolverine had had his fill of rattling bars and his hands were numb from trying to cut through them. Toad gave a resigned sigh. "Yo, you gonna listen to me now?"  
  
Wolverine just growled, thoroughly put out at having to listen to a teenager. "You can't cut through the bars, but what's holding the bars in place, man?" Logan looked back at the portcullis, gauging how thick the concrete walls that held it in place were. "And before you start that again, why don't you just tear down that door there so we can let someone else mess around with the friggin' metal thinger?" Toad settled back as, once again, everyone stared at him. "C'mon, yo, I thought the X-Men were the smart ones and the Brotherhood was just the rejects." Haiden couldn't help but grin at that. He had just met Todd Tolansky, but from what he gathered from the other mutants, he was generally deemed worthless, the reject's reject, as Wolverine had mentally noted earlier. Now, he had nothing to say as he stalked to the door that they hadn't noticed before and he slashed the lock to little slivers of metal. The short, powerful man took three steps inside and then turned around.  
  
"You don't want to go in there." He stated simply and took up his post at the portcullis again. Typically, Jean, Haiden and Toad looked anyway. Inside were several dozen large tanks with creatures suspended inside.  
  
"Like pickling jars." Toad said with a nod. He immediately began shuffling through one of the six desks that were set up against one of the walls.  
  
"They're mutants." Jean gasped. "and they're still alive."  
  
"I suppose you want us to rescue them." Toad called from across the room.  
  
"Well, we can't leave them here!"  
  
As they argued, Haiden walked through the rows of tanks, peering into each one. He cautiously peeked into the parauniverse, and found many of the mutants there. "Actually, Jean, almost all of them are dead. The ones that aren't dead dead are brain dead. There's no reason to get anything from here except proof of the experiments."  
  
"Experiments?" for a second she looked like she might faint, but she regained her composure quickly.  
  
"Yo, I found a set of keys. Wonder where they go..." Toad pocketed the key ring and finished searching the desk. Then he turned the computer on and cracked his knuckles.  
  
"Don't you think there's a password?" Haiden reminded him and was rewarded with a grin.  
  
"'course. That's what makes hacking into government computers fun."  
  
Haiden decided he had seen enough and began riffling through another of the desks and a few moments later, Jean did too. While Toad worked on cracking the password, Haiden and Jean finished going through the other desks. There were a few personal items, but nothing that stood out.  
  
"Well, well. Guess what. Tro and your little blue friend are here." Toad called to Jean. "They've hacked the database too."  
  
Haiden called Logan into the room and they all grouped around the computer.  
  
"Where's it say that?" Wolverine demanded.  
  
"Trust me." Todd keyed a few words and then peered at Haiden. "You got a cell?"   
  
"A what? Oh, a cell phone… no."  
  
"Hm." Toad opened a desk drawer and pulled out a walkie talkie. He pried it open and started changing wires and occasionally glanced at the computer monitor. "No, the voltage is wrong. It won't work." He muttered darkly and threw the device to the side.  
  
"Hey, would one of those things… with the pen work?" Haiden presented a PDA to Todd. "I found it in one of the desks."  
  
"Perfect." He accepted it and quickly took it apart. Three minutes later he put it back together with a flourish and began typing on the computer again. "Alright, yo, we're home free. Pietro will lead us out with this and Kurt's gone to get the others. Mystique, Storm, Blob and Kitty are safe and sound." Todd stood and walked out of the room, into the one with the portcullis. He scribbled something on the screen and a second later, it lifted.  
  
"Let's go. Pietro wants us outta here so he can focus on finding Scott, Lance, Evan and the Professor. They aren't on any of the cameras and Kurt can't find them either. They may have escaped already, but I don't see how." Todd led the group back into the hallway, around the pile of rubble and towards freedom.  
  
Thinking back, Haiden knew it was too good to be true, to fantastic to last. They were almost at a safe exit when Jean Grey tripped on something. She bent down for a closer look and Logan held out a match. It was an arm, severed a few inches above the elbow.  
  
"Why does that watch look so familiar?" Logan asked absentmindedly, half knowing the answer.  
  
From a few feet away, Todd called. "I think I found a door, but I can't open it. And there's blood leading right up to it, maybe someone we know is in there." When he got no answer, he walked back to where Logan, Jean and Haiden stood. "What?" he glanced at the watch that Jean now held in her hand. "Isn't that Summers' watch?" 


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Lance, Scott, Evan and the Professor ~~  
  
Lance couldn't think straight, his mind was trying desperately to figure out why one of Scott's arms was shorter than the other, much shorter. His eyes saw the torn flesh, slightly burned and the startling white of bone, but his logic told him that Summer's could never be less than perfect, and that the mangled limb was anything but that. He wanted to say something, but all he could think was that the bone was so white and the inside of a human's arm didn't look anything like he'd imagined… not that he'd ever tried to imagine such a thing.  
  
Lance closed his eyes, but could get the sight of Scott, his most hated rival, moving the stump as though wondering how the other end had disappeared. It was… pathetic. "Hey, cut it out, Summers." He managed to say, barely noting that he sounded more like the guy than he would usually care to. "We gotta bandage it. You're bleeding like crazy."  
  
"My watch is gone." Scott said faintly. It was all like some awful nightmare, or a horror movie. Lance vowed never to watch another scary movie, or anything with blood and gore. Hollywood really played down serious wounds. Lance opened and closed drawers, focusing on finding a first aid kit. It's gonna take a lot of band-aids to fix that cut, he thought. Finally he found the white box with the red cross on the front.  
  
"Sit down, you might as well, too." He said to Evan and Scott. Professor Charles Xavier took a deep breath and rolled his chair to check on Evan while Lance wrapped Scott's arm in bandages. Evan's wounds were serious, but not as bad as Scott's. Some debris from the grenade had sliced his right arm nearly to the bone and he had a short piece of steel cord imbedded in his leg. Both Scott and Evan had lost a lot of blood.  
  
"What's the point?" pronounced Lance, out-of-the-blue. "People get blood transfusions for shit like this, and who's gonna do that for mutants? Is it even possible?" Scott's eyes had glazed over and he was panting and leaning heavily on Lance.  
  
"The point is that we have to try, Lance. You never know what may happen."  
  
"I know what's gonna happen. I've seen it a million times on Starz. We go through all this shit only for them to die of blood poisoning, or to get eaten, or hey, maybe they get the transfusion and then get hit by a truck. Why bother?" Lance seemed to be on the verge of tears.  
  
"What you want us to do if it was you?"  
  
"I'd want you to leave, get the Hell out and let me die alone, so I finally get away from all the damned humans and the lies we have to tell to keep them off our backs. It's all their fault."  
  
There was a series of loud noises from above them and they all looked up at the stairs. "Yeah, they just can't leave well enough alone. All I wanted was to get away from them, but they follow me for some reason."  
  
"Lance?" a voice called. "Yo? You down here?"  
  
"I smell blood." A deeper voice stated matter-of-factly.  
  
"Perhaps it has to do with all the blood you collected in our wild escape." This voice was softer, tinged with amusement.  
  
"Mutant blood, smart ass."  
  
"Tro says he doesn't have this passageway on the map, hey wait! Let the blue freak get here first. He can see in the dark, remember?"  
  
"That sounds like Todd." Lance said. "What would he be doing here?"  
  
"Y'know, I'm wonderin' what happened to all those people who were here not long ago… I mean, where could they have gone?"  
  
"Hi, vha'd I miss?" An undeniable accent wafted down the stairs, and for the first time, Lance felt a glimmer of hope.  
  
"Your brain, pothead. Get down there and tell us what ya' see." Definitely Todd, Lance thought, and he mentioned Pietro… they came back?  
  
"Stairs, zere's cleaning stuff on zee vall. Does somezing smell dead to you?"  
  
"What's at the foot of the stairs?"  
  
"Don't rush me, it's vet." The voices were closer.  
  
"Todd? That you?" Lance finally muster the energy to say.  
  
"Ah, I zink somevon's down here."  
  
"Lance? Talk to me, the damn monkey here isn't helping at all." Something fell and the sound of metal on stone echoed in the room.  
  
"I vould appreciate it if you didn't call me names."  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Scott and Evan are injured badly. Who else is with you?" Professor Xavier scanned the stairwell for the minds of the other mutants.  
  
"Jean, Logan, Haiden, Me, Kurt and Pietro is keeping an eye out for us." By then, Toad and Kurt had reached the bottom and were giving the four battered mutants a once-over. "You think he wants his arm back? Stick it in a jar and call it a science fair project? Or sell it on E-Bay. I'm sure someone would want the arm of a mutant."  
  
"You are not funny." Logan stated blandly, a second later, the smell hit him and his nose wrinkled. "Smells bad, might be infected."  
  
"I never thought the day would come when I would be glad to see an X-Man." Lance said reverently as Haiden lifted Scott and Logan picked Evan up.  
  
"First time for everyzing." Kurt said energetically. Todd was writing furiously on his gadget and everyone turned to stare at the green lit display.  
  
"This isn't good, they've been doing a sweep of the area, sector by sector and Pietro had to split. He left a present for the Feds on their computer, and is headed to a different console. It'll take him about three seconds to get there, three minutes to get the computer started and… twenty minutes to hack the system from a regular PC."  
  
"No…" breathed Lance. After all that waiting…  
  
"So he's gonna try to hack the Xavier's computer and from there hack the government. It'll take about five minutes to reopen the path to Xavier's."   
  
"Reopen?" The Professor repeated.  
  
"And five more to get us on screen. That means we have ten minutes to be ready to move. The downside is that the sweep has less than eight minutes to get to us and we left a very clear trail. And I have to reconfigure my handheld as soon as Tro hacks the computer."  
  
"So we need eleven minutes and we only have seven."  
  
"Six."  
  
"Any bright ideas?"  
  
"Sorry, I've reached my limit for the year."  
  
"Scott? Damn, I forgot. Professor?" Logan was thinking furiously.  
  
"I'm afraid that I'm out of my league."  
  
"Lance?"  
  
"We could organize a kamikaze to distract them…"  
  
"You're not escaping that easily, bub."  
  
"Magneto?"  
  
"I'm still trying t figure out how we got out of our cells."  
  
"Does anyone have an idea?"  
  
"We could pray." Kurt offered, only to be stared down.  
  
"What's further down there?" Todd asked, peering into the darkness that was beneath them.  
  
"More stairs." Kurt answered."  
  
"We can buy a little time if we go further down and cave the entrance in."  
  
"What if we can't get out?" Haiden questioned the sandy haired teen.  
  
"Between Avalanche and NightCrawler, I doubt that will happen. Besides, Pietro's out there, with Mystique and Storm and Blob. And Kitty, but she's not much use that I can see. She could get down here but not back up."  
  
"So it's settled. We go down. Lance, pull yourself together and grab the Professor, leave the chair."  
  
"No, position the chair so that the cave-in covers it. There still the off chance that they'll see it and think we were buried." Todd improvised. Within 30 seconds, the path behind them was closed, and they were, for all intents and purposes, buried alive. 


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
"Not good, not good, not good." The Xavier Computer had been dismantled, an obstacle that Pietro hadn't counted on. As he tried to think of a computer fast enough to make up for two minutes of lost time and still accomplish what the Xavier computer could, he dialed Mystique's cell to explain the situation to her. Little did Pietro know that even if the Xavier computer had been up and running at a thousand times it's best speed, the receiver would never be able to pick up the weak signal through more than a mile of sheetrock. And Todd was pushing the group deeper and deeper, into a lair that had lain hidden for centuries, guarded by a spirit that had plans for the unsuspecting mutants. All of them.  
  
~~ Mystique, Blob, Kitty and Storm ~~  
  
The army was taking no chances. When the word had gotten out that a nest of mutants had been discovered, captured and then escaped from the military compound, the President had sent the National Guard to calm the nation's fears. While millions of families around the world sat huddled in front of their TVs, Mystique and her crew were huddled in a ditch, watching soldiers who were armed to the tooth tear apart the cabin that they had barely escaped. Too frightened to speak, too confused to think, they crouched in the dark, knowing that if they moved they would be spotted, but if they didn't, they were doomed anyway. Mystique couldn't believe how fast it had happened, pure chance alone had placed them outside the cabin in time to see the choppers land and expel their lethal riders.   
  
Mystique desperately wished Night Vision goggles had never been invented and cursed the inventor of infrared glasses. Her night vision was good enough that she could see several people pulling visors over their eyes and flipping switches.  
  
Then the phone rang. Mystique went stiff and everyone turned to follow the sound. Now Mystique began praising every god she had ever heard of that she had left her phone on the table. But who would be calling her on her cell at this time of night? Pietro and Kurt… something had gone wrong and now they were going to be caught. Mystique found herself trembling at the thought. It bothered her that they would suffer now, because of…  
  
Because of who? She didn't do anything. If she could have her way, she'd be at home, tucked in bed, or maybe she'd have a nice husband and would have fallen asleep in front of the fire in their huge three story house. Of course, if she could have her way, she wouldn't be a mutant, or at least people wouldn't be so paranoid about mutants. As one of the soldiers answered the phone, Mystique continued on that line of thought. If only humans weren't so resistant to change, she wouldn't be so miserable.   
  
She was startled when Blob reached down and picked her up. Storm was already sneaking away with Kitty, now that everyone was focused on the phone call. Blob was surprisingly quiet for someone his size, which was only about four times that of an average person. They traveled in silence, Freddie carried Mystique under his arm like a sack of flour and Storm glided on a breeze with Kitty in tow. They cleared the forest in short order, only to find themselves back at Fort Braddock. Kitty burst into tears at the sight of the place and Mystique couldn't fight the pang of resentment towards the humans. Humans who chased them, humans who hurt them, humans who stood by and watched. One day, it would be nice for them to suffer, too. For now, the four mutants were just too tired to do anything but stand there.  
  
"It isn't supposed to end like this." Storm protested.  
  
"Was it supposed to start like this?" Mystique asked wearily.  
  
"What now?" Freddie asked. Mystique doubted he had a philosophical bone in his body and she envied him. "Storm can escape with Kitty, Mystique can run off on her own. I'll distract them. Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'm the Blob." He proclaimed and puffed out his chest. His stomach wobbled its agreement. The three women couldn't help but grin at that and Mystique gave him a one in five hundred. After all, he was the indestructible Blob, wasn't he?  
  
"Alright, divide and conquer. Where will we meet?"  
  
"The old skate park. We've got some food and stuff stashed there and its got hundreds of tunnels and things under it. We could hide out forever." Mystique doubted that, especially with Blob's appetite, but she went along with it for lack of a better idea. "Now go. I'll catch up." He stood there at the edge of the forest and watched Storm and Kitty fly above the trees and to the south. It was just him and Mystique.  
  
She looked at him, sensing that something profound would be appropriate, but lacking to words. Instead she gave him a quick hug and ran into the night. Blob stared after her, wishing that Pietro, Todd and Lance could have been there to see Mystique's display of emotion, wishing he could tell them somehow. But he couldn't, so he decided to take with him to the grave. He smiled and his eyes sparkled with tears. "It's our secret, Mystique. No one will ever know." The giant figured that Pietro had called from his house and that the National Guard would head there next. So he kept to the trees, and worked his way to Pietro.  
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
Something was wrong. Pietro could feel it the moment the phone rang for a third time. After the fourth ring Mystique picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?" she said.  
  
Pietro paused. It was four-thirty in the morning and Mystique was no fool. She had no way of knowing it was him calling so she would act as though she had just woken up. And Mystique never used her real voice on the phone. She had had Todd install a voice tinner just to hide what her voice sounded like…  
  
"Hey, is Benji there? He just left my party drunk as Hell and I don't know if Felicity dumped him on the side of the road or dropped him off." Pietro improvised.  
  
"Benji? Oh yeah, he's here. Drunk as Hell, but in one piece." There was a murmur on the other line as though the speaker was being directed by someone.  
  
"Mrs. Hale? Are you okay? I thought you didn't swear." Pietro summoned the name of his third grade teacher from his name and hoped Mystique and Freddie were alright. "Well, it is late. I'm sorry for waking you up, but I wanted to make sure he was okay, that's all. I'll see you in church on Sunday."  
  
"Oh, all right dear, bye."  
  
Pietro hung up. That voice was definitely not Mystique's. He packed his laptop and other essentials in a bookbag and stopped by the bathroom long enough to grab his brush and some floss. He paused to check his hair in the mirror and noted the bags under his eyes. "Definitely not good." He had just locked the door behind him when Freddie caught up with him.   
  
"You're alright!" Pietro actually jumped for joy.  
  
"No time, go to the old skatepark. Mystique, Storm and Kitty are waiting. Take them as far down as you can. To the buried city."   
  
"But, where are you going? Aren't you coming? Freddie? Fred?"  
  
"Gotta tell Todd. I'll be there in a little while, take care of the girls, 'kay?" Freddie called from halfway down the street.  
  
Pietro just stood there. Freddie was going to die…take care of the girls…  
  
Pietro couldn't take it. Everything was falling apart like a card house in the middle of a hurricane. "This is all happening too fast." 


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Deep Under the City ~~  
  
It had waited for so long, a little longer wouldn't hurt it. In the way that old, immortal creatures are apt, it was ready to wait another century to be released. A century was indeed such a short time compared to how long it had been trapped before. A part of it lamented the demise of a potential ally, but the mutant was furthering the creature's own purposes, so it didn't regret it too much. There was the problem of the body that it had planned to claim as its own. The spirit of a human had been imbedded in it and was now wandering the country side. The Immortal One thought and then decided how to draw the false human to its lair. It decided that it would just have to risk the lives of the four mutants in order to get the body. Some things couldn't be helped.  
  
In the darkness, it smiled and writhed in anticipation. So long… the paths were finally converging and it would be free to walk the earth again and reclaim its hold on the planet. By the time its rivals reached the surface, it would be too late. Earth would answer to it, and it only. Revenge was sweet, indeed, and all the sweeter after a long wait. The Immortal knew that even more delicious was the taste of the blood of one's enemies.  
  
It laughed, in the only way that its kind could, a horrible screeching noise that made the listener's bones ache and their ears go numb. Under it's great cavern, two figures looked at each other, knowing that their work was in vain.  
  
"Felin, will we make it?" the eldest of them asked. In its old age, it had lost the confidence that its younger companion had.  
  
"No." the other replied without emotion.  
  
The first sighed but kept hammering away at the rock. It was their fate to battle to fail and their kind were strict followers of fate.  
  
"Why must we go straight up? Is it not easier to hammer a path to the side and follow it to the beast?" the young one asked.  
  
"The fastest way is a straight line."  
  
"So you say. We have been here for eons hammering away at the same rock with no result. Let us change directions."  
  
"If we were supposed to do that the fates would have led us to in the beginning."  
  
"Perhaps they are leading us now."  
  
"Do not argue with me and do not dare to presume what the fates have decided."  
  
"Fate is what will happen because of what we do. If we had taken the first exit out, our fate would have been to train the humans to deal with this threat."  
  
"Blasphemy. You dare contradict the fates by saying their will means nothing? Be glad they do not-" The old one's tirade was interrupted by a giant pincer that shattered the sheet of pure adamantite above them to grasp the old one. He did not scream or cry out, resigned to his death as a decree of the fates for not raising his nephew better.  
  
The creature laughed again as it scooped the old one out of the hole with its claw. With a satisfying pop, he pulled the head from the morsel's shoulders and sucked the brain out. It pinched the scalp with a hand and demonstrating its skill at such maneuvers, it slid the entire skull from the skin of the smaller being and popped it into its cavernous mouth, savoring the taste for as long as possible before popping an arm off and gracefully removing the skin. It continued with all the limbs, discarding all of what was left in a small bag at its hip.  
  
The last of its kind, the younger creature, didn't even bother to look. It had seen the process a thousand times, and remembered days before the darkness, when it had done the same to small crabs and the like.  
  
The small being looked up at the large one and understood that the fate his uncle had spoken of was there. It was the monster who was fate of his kind, and now, he thought, my fate is to wait until it cannot resist the temptation any more. Then I shall be fed to the fates, just as all of my people were.  
  
The Immortal One had other plans, though. It didn't intend to kill the last of its favorite delicacies… once it was on the surface, it would restore the race and could feed on them at leisure. Content, the Immortal scooped the little creature up and set it in a cage that it had made especially for this one. Then it curled up, careful not to crush its prize, and waited for its liberators. 


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
He caught up with Mystique, Storm and Kitty at the entrance of the skate park. Mystique nodded her welcome to him and Storm smiled, obviously relieved. Kitty didn't even bother hiding her joy at seeing another mutant, even if he was a member of the Brotherhood. She grabbed him in a bear hug that left Pietro literally gasping for breath. When Storm and Mystique finally pried Kitty off of him, he straightened his hair, glared at the teen and disappeared into the shadows. He was back in a minute, though, with flashlights and backpacks and rope.  
  
Pietro set off carefully, weaving his way through the deep skateboarding pits and shattered glass, making sure the women kept an eye on him. They moved with all the grace of a buffalo herd and stepped on glass whenever they weren't slipping into the pits or running into walls. Pietro sighed and wished Freddie wasn't such a do-gooder. If he had been there, he could have carried the three women and still have kept up with Pietro.  
  
Mystique searched the darkness for Pietro. She was moving clumsily and her eyes weren't adjusting properly to the darkness of the abandoned building. There was a flash of silver directly infront of her and she stopped abruptly to keep from running into him.  
  
"Watch it. There's something about this place that makes it hard to use your powers. Follow my every move, if you shift to the side even an inch, you might fall and I'm not going after you." Pietro warned as he handed his flashlight to Storm. She pointed it down on the ground and Mystique saw that there was a sharp drop of about four feet to a ledge and a catwalk that led from there. There were bright, fluorescent footsteps painted on the floor and the lithe Quicksilver dropped onto the set painted on the ledge. He peered up at the three mutants and then called up. "Put the bags on and stuff the lights in your pants. Then just hop over the side and I'll catch you."  
  
They looked at each other and then at Pietro, doubting that the slender mutant could manage the feat at all, much less in the dark. Sensing their hesitation, Pietro tapped his foot impatiently. Mystique decided to give Pietro a chance, after all, she had seen a nearby ledge that she could jump to if the first one gave way. She looked Storm in the eye, shrugged and stepped over the side.  
  
Before her body realized it was falling, Pietro caught her. He was stronger than she had thought and for a moment the contact brought someone else to her mind, someone she had tried hard to forget. But a split second later he had plopped her on her feet on the next set of footprints and beckoned her to move forward. Kitty went next and grabbed hold of Pietro's neck in desperation. Mystique rolled her eyes at the look Kitty gave Pietro, even as his eyes were turned upward to catch Storm. If they got out of this alive, Kitty would definitely join the million other girls who fought to see who could keep the womanizer's attention longest. Mystique smirked, far more spectacular girls than Kitty Pryde had lasted less than a week with the cocky Pietro, and he boasted that not one of his girlfriends ever dumped him. Indeed, Mystique thought, after all the trouble they go through to get his attention it would be senseless to break up with him. Mystique thought back to the many telephone calls she had gotten about Pietro and the things he pressured his girlfriends into doing as she followed the glowing footsteps. It wasn't that he was a pervert, as far as anyone could tell he wasn't even interested in sex. He made the girls shoplift, disobey their parents, run the streets at night and basically see just how far he could push them to do his bidding. It was obvious that he just let them wear the title of his girlfriend because he was bored.  
  
The catwalk led them to another ledge and Pietro inched past the women and pulled a trapdoor open. There were no translucent footsteps here and Pietro handed his flashlight to Kitty, who was closest, and she shone it down the ladder for him. Mystique noticed how slowly and carefully he chose his hand and footholds. Impatient Pietro was afraid of a misstep and his fear spelled Mystique's fear. Storm noticed as well and her smooth face creased with worry. Pietro reached the bottom and Kitty tossed the light to him. He shone it around for a moment, deciding where to go next and then shook his head.  
  
"Without Freddie it's near impossible to go this way. You guys have no idea what to avoi-" he was cut off by a deep rumbling deep within the ground. He stood perfectly still, even closed his eyes and mouthed a prayer. When nothing more happened, he prepared to jump back to the ladder.  
  
While Pietro was in midair, the ground shifted again. his hand brushed the intended rung and slipped to the next. For a moment it held and he breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled up at Mystique, who had shoved her way to the front, but the smile froze just as quickly as it appeared.  
  
Tink.  
  
The rung Pietro held on swung dangerously and everyone held their breath. Mystique tried to venture further down to help him, but the look in his eyes told her to keep her distance.  
  
"Go back, tell Freddie it's not safe." There was a painful screeching sound as the metal rung bent more under Pietro's weight and with a final protest the last screw twisted and he lost his grip.  
  
Pietro listened, blankly, as the other mutants called out to him. He waited for the ground to rush up to catch him, waited to feel the air pounded from his lungs and the ground to collapse beneath him, but he felt no impact at all, as if the ground had disappeared. Kitty was frantically screaming and Storm was trying to calm her. Mystique… she simply couldn't believe that he had actually fallen.  
  
Pietro heard a clicking sound and then hit the ground. It wasn't at all as hard as he thought it would be, and he was up in a flash to get his bearings. He looked straight up in an effort to gauge how far he had fallen and saw a giant eye blink at him. Then giant pillars rose out of the ground and closed loosely around his slight frame. There was a rush of wind as Pietro was elevated by his small section of earth and the next thing he knew, he was staring into the face of a giant monster. The jolt of fear he got when he realized that he was doomed more surely than if he had run in front of a train, shook his nerve completely.  
  
Storm had coaxed Kitty and Mystique halfway out of the skate park when Pietro's desperate cry rang through the early morning. It was halted abruptly and Storm forcefully pushed Mystique and Kitty to the exit. The bright sunrise greeted them, a mockery of the suffering they had all endured since it last abandoned them.  
  
Then the floor vanished from beneath them, and they tumbled, finally coming to rest on a patch of spongy earth. Kitty landed right on top of Pietro and came up screaming, not caring whether she was heard by humans or not. Mystique rushed to Pietro, checking his pulse and breathing while Storm just stared straight ahead.  
  
"Who are you?" She asked, not really expecting an answer.  
  
"I am the last friendly face you shall ever see, I'm afraid. Whatever possessed you to enter the Immortal's Prison?"  
  
"What?" Mystique looked up, satisfied that Pietro was merely unconscious.  
  
"If he doesn't eat you, he will enslave you. You will probably make better slaves than meals, though, not that I envy you."  
  
"Speak clearly. Why are you in that thing?"  
  
A harsh, grating noise seemed to come from everywhere at once.  
  
"I hope your friend died of fright, otherwise he'll suffer too. The Immortal is very generous with pain and humiliation." In answer, the ground sprung up beneath the mutants, forcing them to their knees. They were tossed in a cage with bars that looked like angels' wings in the half-light, but may as well have been adamantium.  
  
"Slaves, no doubt about it." The voice said again, somehow managing to be heard through the awful noise.  
  
"Maybe you will get sick and die. I will speak to the fates, though I doubt they will listen to me. They didn't listen all the other times."  
  
The Immortal One curled up again, forcing itself to sleep so that it may better enjoy the entertainment of the mutants later. It had plans and the little food creature knew what they were.  
  
After all, it only needed one messenger of the universe's new transfer of ownership, the boy moved quicker than the others, and they were women, after all. The food creatures had killed all their women and children long ago, leaving only the seasoned warriors. Yes, thought the monster. It would be nice to have female company again. 


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Toad ~~  
  
He stopped walking suddenly. Everyone paused, not seeing anything in the dark tunnel, but sensing that something was wrong.  
  
"What is it?" Logan asked, already uncomfortable surrounded by so much dirt and rock.  
  
"Three things actually. About forty feet ago, we went out of range. I was trying to work my way around that, but I found out that the Xavier computer is gone. Then I found out that Tro, Freddie and the girls were busted." No one even said anything at that. They were all so tired and beaten that they could hardly keep going. "then my batteries died, and I can just barely make out a pretty steep rock face in front of us."  
  
Logan shook his head. No one was in any condition to climb, not even Kurt was alert enough to teleport to the top.  
  
"You're the boss, Toad. What do we do?" Lance whispered.  
  
Todd looked around at the mutants and made his decision. "We'll rest here." Many of them just sat down and fell asleep. Todd looked back at Evan Daniels and Scott Summers and tried to think of some way to help them. they hadn't regained consciousness yet, and if Logan hadn't told him otherwise, Todd would have thought them dead. They had lost so much blood that it was a miracle that they were alive were alive at all.  
  
Logan stalked around, making sure everyone was settled and then made his way back to Toad.  
  
"Ya' think we should turn back?"  
  
"Nah. They'll kill us all, yo. We'll stay here 'til we can move on and then keep going."  
  
"And what if nothing's there?"  
  
"Then we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. We might just have to end this fast."  
  
"Mercy killings." Logan whispered with obvious distaste, but he could only agree. It was better than any death the government would give them, and faster than dieing of starvation.  
  
"Only if we have to. I was thinking more along the lines getting the strongest of our group together and attacking the people following us."  
  
"Are they still following?"  
  
"If you go check, I'll look ahead for a way out of here."  
  
"You need sleep."  
  
"It's no biggie. We can stay here for a day or two."  
  
Logan growled, but Todd had functioned well enough as leader of the mutants and his ideas were better than Logan's. "Fine. Get some sleep first."  
  
Todd shrugged and sat down next to Lance. Despite himself, he was asleep almost immediately and Logan was the only one left awake. He sighed and reflected once again on the circumstances that had landed them in the tunnel. Phoenix.   
  
Where was she now? Was she satisfied that she had effectively ruined everyone's lives? Logan was torn. He thought Evan, Kurt and Pietro were helping her. Now Evan was wounded badly, near death's door and Kurt was struggling to keep up with the rest of the mutants, not that they were going anyplace fast. Pietro was… probably caught by now. It wasn't fair, Logan thought, uncomfortable with the desperation that was growing within his chest. These kids never did anything to deserve this, not even the Brotherhood, especially not the Brotherhood. They got all the tough breaks, even if they were pains… Logan paced and again caught a whiff of the infection that both Evan and Scott had developed. Gangrene. Definitely not good. Logan remembered seeing men lose limbs to the waste, though when he thought about it, he couldn't remember where or even when he had seen that. It didn't matter. What mattered was that two very good kids were going to die because of one selfish girl.  
  
It wasn't fair.  
  
~~ Freddie ~~  
  
He was slowing down now, never in all his life had he run as fast, far or long as he was tonight, but he couldn't find anyone. Maybe that was a good thing, maybe they were all safe, maybe they were all dead. Freddie quickly banished the thought from his head. With all the muscle power and experience the mutants ha behind them, it was impossible for then to have died so soon. They would last til daybreak, Freddie declared to himself.   
  
There was a weak coughing sound in the woods, and ever the good Samaritan, Freddie stopped to see what it was.  
  
A soldier.  
  
She was dragging herself weakly towards the road with her arms only and leaving a trail of blood that led deep into the trees. Well, thought Fred Dukes, we ARE the dominant species. We have to look out for the little people. And she is a female, momma didn't raise no hoodlum. So Fred turned and walked to the wounded woman, gently lifting her, despite her halfhearted attempts to keep him away.  
  
So much for saving the others.  
  
Fred walked carefully, trying not to jar the poor woman further and in less than five minutes, was within sight of the military base.  
  
For some reason the woman kept shaking her head and mumbling something.  
  
"Don't talk lady, you'll make it worse." Several soldiers ran out to meet them, whether to take the soldier or to take Fred, he never found out.  
  
The woman finally got out the one word she had been trying to say for the past five minutes.  
  
"Trap."  
  
Then she exploded.  
  
The detonation killed the nearest soldiers, but did little other than blast Freddie's clothes to smithereens. All that was left were a few conveniently placed scraps.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh dear. Well, 'Go down in fame or up in flames' was always a part of the Air Force mantra." A cold voice said behind him. Dozens of militants had run up and were trying to figure out what was going on. "I guess gravity doesn't work for lofty pilots. Don't turn around, or your friend gets it. Ask me what he gets."  
  
"Well, it depends on which 'friend' it is. If its Remy…"  
  
There was a growl and Freddie assumed he hit the nail right on the head.  
  
"Oh, pity. What about the girl? I think they like each other." The mysterious voice continued, as if they were trading gossip. "I caught them making out by the school, so I hope they like each other. It doesn't matter. They'll die together. Or not, if I don't have enough fun killing you. Then I'll just have to torture them to death. Who do you think would cry more if the other died?"  
  
"You think you can kill me? I am the Blob." With that, he turned around.  
  
Phoenix was there with a knife to Remy's neck. It was curved and wicked. And stained red with blood. Rogue stood a bit in front and to the side of them, face frozen in a mask that Freddie simply couldn't describe.   
  
"Invulnerable epidermis is your mutant ability. Not immortality." She declared and threw Remy to the side. As she dived for Freddie, Rogue scooped the Cajun up and half dragged him into the cover of the forest. The soldiers had picked a target now, and half of them began shooting at the traitorous mutant, but stopped when she got too close to the Blob. He smiled slightly and set his feet, prepared to catch Phoenix in mid-flight. For a second, Phoenix smiled too. These people were so predictable.  
  
Frddie caught her and held her still. "Why are you doing this? We never hurt you."  
  
Phoenix spit a mouthful of something full in his face. "What made you think you had to do something?"  
  
Freddie was mad, but all of a sudden his vision shifted. Instead of Phoenix caught tight in his arms, he saw a little girl, about Kitty's size with blonde hair and deep brown eyes.  
  
"Tell me what you see." She whispered, voice hoarse with anticipation.  
  
Freddie couldn't answer, he was distracted by something in the distance.  
  
Skatepark, his mind told him. Pietro. Help. The titan dropped Phoenix and lurched unsteadily towards the park. Behind him, Evelyn slipped into the parauniverse and followed, confident that the potion had placed Freddie under her control, however indirect that control was. Remy, Rogue and the soldiers who still stood looked at one another, and without a word, followed Freddie too.  
  
He didn't notice. All he saw was the angel. It shifted restlessly. I have waited an eternity here, it said and its beautiful wings spread slightly and then fell against its back. My kin and I have fought this evil for eons, but they were so stubborn. They could not adapt and so they could not live. I am all that is left.  
  
In the parallel universe, Evelyn saw and heard the angel. She had found him, her ultimate test had finally shown his face. She didn't need the foolish mutant anymore. In her spectral form, she brought out a hand and grasped tightly onto Freddie's heart. She smiled and gave a tug.  
  
Here was what you are looking for, there is nothing else, nothing better. Your duty is to protect it at all costs, destroy those who interfere with your duty. Destroy those who interfere with our duty. We give you power, you give us safety. Hone your talents, do not let our gift go to waste. Stay in practice. These are your duties.   
  
There was something new this time.  
  
The Sleeper is an enemy. Let not his wings unfold, for he shall crush us all.  
These are your duties.  
Do not fail us.  
Go.  
  
She went.  
  
On Earth, Freddie stumbled and fell. He did not rise and a worried Remy rushed forward to help him up. After a moment of tugging, he checked Freddie's pulse.  
  
The sun rose, lighting the sky a blood red that perfectly matched the mourning Remy's eyes. 


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
He was there. He saw Freddie's last moment and knew that there really was no justice in the world. How could someone so hopelessly innocent die in the middle of all this? All Freddie ever did was make sure everyone was happy. He didn't even like beating people up, but he did it for the Brotherhood.  
  
Of course, that was before they got caught.  
  
Pietro shivered, perfectly aware that nothing made sense anymore. It had started out being all about escaping the government , but somehow there was more to it. Immortals and the Fates and only God knew what else. Pietro paused. Was God involved in this somehow? He hoped so, because if what was under the city was any indication, they would need divine intervention if any shred of humanity was to survive.  
  
Pietro grimaced, the end of the world was nigh and he had never gotten that mess about the diary cleared up… he shook his head. A diary at a time like this? Who cared anyway?  
  
Pietro raced right up to the gathered soldiers and mutants around Freddie's…body. It felt weird thinking of it like that… his corpse? Nah, it was still Freddie as far as Pietro was concerned. He was just asleep, that's all. But Pietro had a message to deliver.  
  
"Valzinameku sends his greetings." Pietro recited, carefully not looking at the mutants. "He says that soon he will rise from the depths and conquer what was once his. Resistance is futile and all that other spacey bull shit. He's a demon, by the way. Or at least a monster. I think he's a demon, cause I just can't picture anything worse than him."  
  
"Are you okay kid?" One guy asked, unsure whether or not to take Pietro seriously or not.  
  
"What the fuck kind of question is that? You were only trying to kill me a few hours ago." Pietro's voice betrayed no emotion. "I gotta run. There're a few more people I have to tell."  
  
Pietro took off down the street. Where would the president be right now? He ran past a shop with a TV in the window, and made it two blocks before he ran back for a double take.  
  
The president. Making a speech. In a town less than ten miles from Bayville.  
  
Pietro's eyes narrowed. How convenient.  
  
~~ Ororo, Kitty, Mystique ~~  
  
The three women had crowded in the far end of the cage, as much to get as far as possible from the thing as to get closer to the other prisoner.  
  
"I am Lucifer, the last of the race known as the Vulgates. My kin and I were bidden to protect the suface world from Valzinameku. We have failed. Our kind had grown weak, confident that the Fates would guide us through all our endeavors, and quickly fell to the Demonic's fury."  
  
"So that, this thing is called a demonic?" Ororo tapped her chin. "And the Fates? Are they like your gods?"  
  
"The Fates supposedly direct our actions. The Vulgates acknowledge no gods, but have worked in conjuntion with the Fates for so long that we became, shall we say, dependent on their assisstance."  
  
"Supposedly... you don't share this view?"  
  
"I believe the Fates are exactly what you make them. If I take a path that no one has before me and others follow, would I not be a Fate? The logic in the Fates is lacking and Vulgates were once known as notorious for their logic. Time has made us weak and in our weakness we began grasping for straws. Our weakness has cost us greatly."  
  
"So basically we're doomed." Mystique said blandly.  
  
"Perhaps, but the Future is always changing. I see several different courses of action that could turn the tide."  
  
"You can see into the future?"  
  
"I can observe the patterns of human destiny and their inner consciousness, and by that I can see the Future."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"Unfortunately in our case, all of those actions can be facilitated only by outside forces."  
  
"What outside forces?" Ororo asked, half knowing the other mutants would be involved somehow.  
  
"There are humans like yourself who are on their way to this chamber as we speak. All your hopes lie with them. If even one of them acts out of line or isn't strong enough to fulfill their part, your deaths are as certain as theirs."  
  
"And you don't care one way or another?"  
  
"Vulgates have no em-. What I mean to say is, I have been trained to ignore feelings of hopelessness and dewsperation. Such emotions are weaknessess and illogical. And on a level that you surely would understand, there is nothing that I can do to affect our chances. I am confident that I have done all I can here, even if it is nothing to you, and will die with no regrets."  
  
Ororo paused to consider what he had said, or rather, stopped himself from saying. Vulgates have no emotions. Then he switched and said he had been trained to ignore emotions. Ororo didn't think he was lying so much as holding back. She honestly believed that he believed that his apathy was the result of the way his people lived.  
  
"Which mutants are coming?"  
  
"What are 'mutants'?" he asked, pronouncing the word akwardly.  
  
Storm thought carefully before answering him. Everyone knew that mutants were genetic cousins of humans, victims of chance who had ended up with the double recessive mutant gene, but how does one explain that to a person who has been underground for... how long was an eon anyway?  
  
"A mutant is like a human, but with special powers, like super speed or the ability to control the weather."  
  
"Like Mages?"  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"You are human Mages who radiate no magical aura. I must investigate. I know not the names of the mutants, but perhaps I can describe them to you. Would you prefer physical apperances?"  
  
"That would be perfect."  
  
"Leading the group is a tall, odd coloured young man, he walks or rather hops on disproportioned legs and slouches."  
  
"Hops? That's Toad."  
  
"Directly behind him is a short, muscled man with three claws of adamantium."  
  
"Logan." Kitty was looking up now, and Mystique had settled back against the bars of the cage.  
  
"There are several wounded among them. One has dark skin and golden hair, another is fair of skin and covers his eyes with a band of ruby set in gold."  
  
"Well, Evan is obvious, I guess the other is, like, Scott." Kitty noted.  
  
"How badly are they injured?" Storm interupted.  
  
He just shrugged. "There are others as well, a girl with hair as red as blood, a-"  
  
"How badly?" She repeated.  
  
"I am sorry. They would be better off dead. They should be dead. Since they are headed straight here, they will be soon anyway."  
  
"It's starting to bother me the way you talk about people like that." Mystique said with a more than a touch of irritation.  
  
"I am merely trying to be straightforward with you. You are all better off dead, and any fate is better than being the one to release Valzinameku."  
  
"You keep saying how terrible that is, but this creature hasn't hurt us yet. For all we know, you are the real threat here." Storm watched the Vulgate carefuly, searching for any sign of emotion that would give him away. There was none.  
  
"It is true, there is no way for you to tell if this is all some clever ruse. However, you must know that under no circumstances would trap myself in a cage made of my kin's bones."  
  
The women looked a bit more closely at the bars of his cage. Yes, it was made of bones, some of them weren't even cleaned completely. Kitty whimpered when she saw the torn flesh hanging off one of the bones.  
  
"That, that cannot be. Those are too big to be human... but you aren't human. I forgot." Storm conceded.  
  
"I must admit, I have always been..." Here he cleared his throat. "smaller than everyone else."  
  
"Oh don't worry. I'm short too." Kitty said with sympathy.  
  
"I am NOT short. My growth has merely been stunted by this environment. Vulgates are not built to live in caves."  
  
"Uh, huh. Right." Kitty's voice bled sarcasm.  
  
"Oh spare me your humor."  
  
"How old were you when you came here?"  
  
"I was all of five seasons old."  
  
"Five seasons? Is that like five years?"  
  
"Perhaps, it matters not, the past is to be analysed and its lessons are to be memorized."  
  
"Analyzed? Why?"  
  
"There is only so much that any mortal can remember. We must limit our memories to the bare essentials or we shall become feebleminded in our great age."  
  
"Oh. Sounds hard."  
  
"It is at times, but the Vulgate doctorine leaves you no choice. I believe Valzinameku is asleep now and we may discuss our escape."  
  
"What?"  
  
Lucifer sighed. "The logic is simple. It expects you to try to escape, that is why it hasnt killed you yet. You are here for sport. He assumes that I will accept the Fate, crap, I think you call it, and will not even attempt to escape. That is why he will let his guard down around us. We have only one chance, and mustn't ruin it."  
  
"Cool, then we can forget about this whole thing?"  
  
"No. Then you will leave to intercept the mutants who are coming here. I will take care of Valzinameku."  
  
"Alone?"  
  
"It is only a Demonic. I can easily kill it."  
  
"Then why didn't you do that a long time ago?"  
  
"I felt that I should wait. And also, any escape that I could have organized by myself would have left me either dead or in too weak a condition to do what must be done. Now you can provide distractions and carry out the contingency plan, should I fail."  
  
"Contingency plan?"  
  
"Destroy us both. He will not kill me, I realize that now, there is a further purpose he has for me. If I cannot kill Valzinameku, you will kill us both."  
  
"But, but, then you'd be dead."  
  
"I apologize, I was under the impression that that was what happens when you kill someone."  
  
Mystique chuckled lightly. It was so difficult to tell if he was being honest or had an extremely dry sense of humor.  
  
"It is no joke, now listen, I have had time to sit here and prepare several dozen plans, but in order to complete them, I must know what each of your talents is. It would also be beneficial if I knew your names."  
  
"How rude of us." Storm said by way of apology. "I am Ororo Munroe, also known as Storm. I can control weather patterns and invoke any of the elements of weather."  
  
"So you are a weather witch."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"It is a pleasure to meet you Ororo Munroe."  
  
"I'm Kitty Pryde. Kitty. I can phase through walls and stuff. And if I walk through, like, anything electronic, it kinda shortcircuits."  
  
"What is Electronic?"  
  
"With electricity I guess. Like lightening."  
  
"You can walk through lightning?"  
  
"No. Yes, I guess I could, but that's not what I meant."  
  
"I will inquire more later."  
  
"Yeah, um, yeah." Kitty flushed a bright red.  
  
"And I am Raven Darkholme, Mystique to everyone who knows me as a mutant. I am a shapesifter."  
  
"What do you mean by that? Why would you hide your identity?"  
  
"Mutants are hated and feared by humans." Storm said simply.  
  
"Ah, that explains quite a bit then. I have decided how best to execute our escape."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Yes. Kitty, phase through the cage and come stand beside me."  
  
She did, darkly thinking of what a fool she was that she hadn't done so earlier.  
  
"Um, I can phase people out with me too." she whispered, thouroughly ashamed.  
  
"Truly? Even better. For how long can you walk through stone?"  
  
"I don't know, I usually don't suffer any side effects from it."  
  
"Even with people accompanying you?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Can you go up, through the rock?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then teamwork still remains paramount. You have saved us a few hours though, and now I have less person to worry about protecting. If this fails, you take the others and run, don't turn back, don't slow down, run straight through everything that gets in your way. Is this clear? I need you to be strong, you must be the one to escape, even if it means leaving the rest of us behind. We need someone who can get back down here without letting Valzinameku out."  
  
Kitty shrugged. "Sure, I guess."  
  
"That is not good enough. People will die if you guess. People are dieing now, you must pull through. Now release us so that we can begin."  
  
"I don't get why it's so hard? We can just climb out, right?"  
  
"If there was even the tiniest fault in this prison, Valzinameku could, would escape here. I think that when your friend fell, you made him phase through the adamantite walls."  
  
"But I wasn't touching him."  
  
"You need to touch someone to phase with them?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"The perhaps he phased through on his own. The fact of the matter is that you are in here now and the prison is still intact. Enough of this, to the plan." By now they were all standing in a corner of the great cavern.  
  
"Ororo, can you lift the three of you onto that ledge there?" He pointed to a seven foot step about fifty feet above the ground.  
  
"Don't ask me if I can. I will." Storm was sweating bullets though, fifty feet was pretty high up, and with two other people... It would be a very close call.  
  
"You take Kitty, I will lift Raven."  
  
"What?" Storm stared hard at him.  
  
"There is no reason to strain yourself yet. You still have to resuce the other mutants. Go now, three hundred paces through the wall of that ledge is a tunnel. Follow it to you companions and lead them to safety. There are people after them, beware. However, if the enemy is the only one willing to house you, do not hesistate. You will suffer greatly at their hands, but I will come for you. You are not supposed to die like this."  
  
"Your Fates tell you this?" Mystique needled as she felt herself rise into the air and Storm took off with Kitty in tow.  
  
"My heart tells me this. You will not die here, I swear it on my wings. You mustn't fail me, Kitty, I have placed a burden upon you that may never lift, but please, do not forsake me."  
  
There was an earshattering roar as Valzinameku surged to its feet, sensing Lucifer's magic. Kitty didn't look back even when she heard a sickening crunching noise behind her. She just grabbed Mystique's and Storm's hand and ran, counting the steps and trying to fight off her panic. 


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pheonix ~~  
  
Pheonix was elated. Even from ten city blocks away, she could sense the Sleeper, tossing restlessly. It was almost time for him to awaken. Pheonix intended to be there right when that happened. She refused to kill a sleeping... anything. That was murder. In her twisted, shattered mind, there was a difference, but it was as thin a line as was ever distinguished by humans. Redemption was at hand, soon she would be back in the Masters' favor and could exact her revenge upon Evan Daniels. Then she would find Haiden.  
  
She stopped thinking then, uncomfortable with the images and emotions that the name brought to her attention. She missed him, more than she should and the small bit of moral fibre within her was apalled at the one memory of him that she welcomed.  
  
Pheonix decided that she would have to do something about him eventually, if only because he remained her one weakness. But she kept seeing the look on his face as she walked away from him for the last time. He looked... broken. Haiden used to be so happy, but after a while, it was just too much. Pheonix had simply destroyed the last hope he had had.  
  
Pheonix fought to avoid thinking about their last day together. So many memories...  
  
Pheonix's attention mercifully snapped back to the present before she could delve too deeply into uncomfortable territory. The angel was moving.  
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
The movies always showed the President's Guards to be ever alert and almost impossible to trick. Pietro just ran past them, a blur of white. It was just that simple to get to the most powerful man in the United States, it was almost funny, except for the tiny problem of getting the nation to listen to him when he told them that a giant monster was underneath Bayville, preparing to escape and destroy them all. Yep, thought Pietro, that could definitely make things difficult.  
  
Pietro raced right up the the President, stopping about three feet in front of him. Everything just paused for a moment. Pietro shrugged it off. "I am an envoy of the demon Valzinameku. He demands that you surrender your control of the people of this land and come with me."  
  
"What? Is this a joke?"  
  
"Not at all. I've been informed to tell you that you may bring as many guards as will make you comfortable. Valzinameku wishes to speak with you." Pietro kept his attention focused on the President, but was well aware of the dozens of guns pointed directly at him.  
  
"You've got guts popping up like that and then telling me that I have to meet some demon." The look he gave Pietro made it clear what he thought of mutants, which Pietro obviously was.  
  
"I don't want to force this on you. As a human, I'm teling you that something is very wrong. Not far from here is a small town called Bayville. Valzinameku lurks beneath the city, trapped. He's trying to escape. I think he wants your military to try to get him by blasting a hole in the cave, its like a prison of adamantium and he can't get out with just his claws."  
  
"If that really is true, how could you possibly know?" The man's voice dripped with sarcasm and everyone nearby laughed.  
  
"I'm a mutant, can't you tell? It's so easy to tell just by looking, you know..."  
  
"Don't get smart with me boy."  
  
"I am smart, I can't help that, and I won't act stupid just because you do. I have friends trapped in that cave with Valzinameku and I have friends trapped in your military base. They're all counting on me to help them and for once in my life, I just can't do it. I'm only human and no amount of superhuman speed can penetrate that fort now or blast through adamantium and kill that demon. That's why you'll help me by getting my friends out of the fort."  
  
"Wh- what makes you think-"  
  
"You're the adult here. Think about it, if I'm wrong, you've been tricked. If I'm right, and the demon gets out, you're dead. You can't even capture and contain a handful of mutants without nearly destroying an entire fort. What makes you think you can kill this demon? Besides, if you don't I'll just have to kill you. Or take you back to Valzinameku. I think you'd prefer the quick way though. I think he eats humans."  
  
"This is-"  
  
"I don't care. What'll it be?"  
  
A burly man stepped forward out of the mass of soldiers who had surrounded the pair.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"Pietro Maximoff."  
  
"Well, Fort Braddock just reported that it had a situation with a bunch of mutants getting loose and running wild inside. You know any names?"  
  
"I'll even tell you where they are if you help me get to them before those people do."  
  
"Names?"  
  
"Charles Xavier, Magneto, Cyclops, Spyke, Avalanche, Toad, Jean... That enough?"  
  
The man spoke the names into a cell phone and a moment later nodded. "All right, it's a deal, Mr. President, we need to get you inside."  
  
"But-" He tried to protest, but was gently pushed into the limo that he had arrived in.  
  
"Lead the way. We'll follow in the chopper." He jogged to a helicopter and was airborne a minute later.  
  
Pietro shrugged. It was something at least.  
  
~~ The Tunnel ~~  
  
They had slept for no more than three hours before nightmares found them all sitting around, staring blankly at the walls.  
  
"We still aren't ready to climb that rock face." Logan ran a hand through his hair as he paced. "Any ideas? Any at all?"  
  
"No, I'm fresh out of 'em." Todd was exhausted. "I can't die here, yo, this ain't the place for me."  
  
"It's not the place for any of us."  
  
"Does it matter?" Lance was tired of listening to them go back and forth, saying the same thing in different ways. "Either we die or we don't. I'd rather be halfway up that damn cliff and fall than I would sit here and rot to death."  
  
"Not everyone can move, much less climb, bub." Logan growled.  
  
"What happened to your famous teamwork, huh? I guess the X-Men aren't as macho as they want everyone to think. You people don't function well under pressure. Even Summers just falls apart when things get chaotic."  
  
Everyone snapped to attention at that. Logan let out a growl more feral than any before and crouched, ready to attack.  
  
"C'mon shorty, let's see how many metric tons of rock you can lift." Lance taunted as he prepared to bring the roof down on all of them.  
  
"Lance, man, chill. We'll get out." Todd whispered, not believing it, not even knowing if Lance heard.  
  
"We'll die here, so lets get it over with fast."  
  
"Lance. I've had enough. We'll go to the top and find a way to get the others up there too."  
  
Lance whirled on Todd. "There you go, acting just like that da-"  
  
Todd cut him off by pouncing on him. Lance felt a rush of wind as Wolverine's claws sliced through the air. He couldn't see a damn thing, Todd was in his way. He could hear though, and what sounded like a body hit the ground hard.  
  
"What?" Lance tried to sit up. "Todd? Ohmigod, Todd, please tell me you're okay."  
  
"I'm fine, how 'bout you?" Todd's voice sounded far away.  
  
"Get off me, you idiot. Christ, I thought that bastard got you."  
  
"Get off you? I'm over here."  
  
"So who's laying on me? It better not be that damn Canadian."  
  
"It ain't." The Canadian said, and suddenly the wieght was gone.  
  
"M-Magneto?" Lance stared, dumbfounded at the Master of Magnetism. "Why isn't he moving?" Lance asked with a touch of panic in his voice. "Why'd he jump on me?"  
  
"He jumped in front of you, and that's more than you deserve. He wasn't the best of men, but there was no need for him to die for you."  
  
"You killed Magneto?" Lance repeated. "You killed Pietro's dad?" Then panic left Lance's voice almost as suddenly as it appeared.  
  
"That ain't cool, yo. He wasn't much, but he was ours. We can't deal with people who run 'round killin' our people. There's only so many of us."  
  
"Magneto got in the way."  
  
"So is that your excuse? If you'd killed Lance, what would you have said? We're outta here. Get your own people out of here, X-Man. Hope its that much easier now that you're three people short." Todd looked down at Lance, who was cradling Magneto's head.  
  
"How're we gonna tell Pietro?" he asked softly. "You know all he ever wanted was to make you proud. How could you ruin things for him like that? How?"  
  
"Lance. We're going now."  
  
"All of us?"  
  
"Yeah, Magneto too."  
  
"Good." Lance smiled absentmindedly as he stood with he man in his arms. "Why can we see?"  
  
"That's what eyes are for, yo."  
  
"But we're underground, right. There's no lights down here and Summers never did find a match, but we can see."  
  
"Huh?" That threw Todd off completely.  
  
"It's been getting brighter as we went deeper. Cool, huh?"  
  
"Let's get out of here." Todd said, reaching down and picking Scott up. He threw him over his shoulder like a sack and glanced furtively around at the others. "This isn't right." He bagan walking in the opposite direction as fast as he could, fully expecting the other mutants to follow.  
  
They did. Todd had led them wisely before. And there really wasn't anywhere else to go. 


	21. Chapter 21

~~ Remy and Rogue ~~  
  
"Why are we followin' this yahoo?"  
  
"Wisht I knew, Cherie, but we gotta make sho' she don't hurt herself."  
  
"Ugh." Rogue shook her head. It was crazy she told herself. Madness. The girl had just tried to kill them. But watching her dig like an animal through the dirt, crowing about some angel, was kind of depressing. She obviously had a screw loose. A very important screw, at that.  
  
"Did you ever get one o' dose feelin's, like someting very bad was 'bout t' happen?"  
  
Rogue looked at Remy, who was staring at the girl. Yep, that's exactly what she was felling now, but she was so confused...  
  
"Hey, cut it out now." Rogue leaned forward and grabbed the girls' shoulder.  
  
"It's close. I can feel-"  
  
The ground erupted upwards before the weirdo could finish the sentence.  
  
Everyone stared upwards as a man flew higher into the sky, propelled by something below.  
  
"Did we wander onto a movie set o' someting?" Remy asked, wide-eyed.  
  
The man started to fall, finally and they all followed his descent. The body jerked and Rogue realized he was still alive. Suddenly there was a loud snap and everyone's attention was returned to the ground. Or, to be more specific, to the hole. A giant pincher, like one on a crab, thrust its way through the ground. Phoenix took three steps back, eyes fixated on the claw. An arm forced its way up about twelve feet away, the hand flexing in the open air.  
  
"It must be a horror movie." One of the soldiers said.  
  
There was a dull thud behind them but no one moved, either for fear of what they would see or because they assumed it was the man from before.  
  
The earth between the two limbs surged upwards. Whatever it was, it was coming out.  
  
~~ Kitty ~~  
  
"I don't get it. We're in the tunnel, right? We've walked for hours and haven't seen a thing. Where could they be?"  
  
"They were here and left, in that direction." Mystique pointed further down the tunnel.  
  
"How can you tell?" Kitty asked. "Oh."  
  
There was a trail of blood leading in that direction.  
  
"Let's go. They need us." Storm began running.  
  
"You let those boys out of your sight for a minute and they try to kill each other." Mystique said as she and Kitty followed.  
  
They couldn't run far, they were so tired that they could barely move. Instead they decided to stop and rest. If the other mutants had wounded members among them, they wouldn't be moving fast anyway.  
  
Six hours later, they took off running again.  
  
They rested and ran some more, three times they rested and then ran, each time they ran further and took shorter breaks. Finally they caught up with Todd and the rest of the mutants.  
  
For a split second they just looked at each other, then the celebrating began. It was short-lived, however. Deep down, none of the women thought that the blood could have been from anything serious, but seeing Magneto dead, Scott and Evan near death and the others so exhausted they couldn't even sleep brought the awful truth home.  
  
After trading stories and tears, they all sat down to think up ideas.  
  
"I have no idea how long this tunnel is any way." Todd sighed.  
  
"It's several miles long. We've been traveling down here for at least two days trying to catch up with you. It's really big too, I can't see walls on any side of us, but for some reason there's no echo." Mystique offered.  
  
"Days... Impossible. That means we've been down here for four days at the very least. Probably more with us having to carry the Professor, Scott and Evan. We'd have died of dehydration by now."  
  
"But don't forget, Valzinameku wanted us alive so we could release him. This may be his doing. Which means that we're getting so tired and beginning to feel the brunt of our little trip because he has no need of us anymore." Haiden spoke for the first time since they had found Scott and Evan.  
  
"Are you sure? He's found a different way out?"  
  
"So has your friend. They just broke through the surface."  
  
"How do you know that?" Todd asked.  
  
"I am more than just a mutant. I've been doing my best to keep these two alive, but I can't stop infections. I suppose it would have helped to have mentioned that earlier, but I just didn't have that kind of energy. I'm afraid my grasp is wearing thin. I'm working on so many things at once that its beginning to fall apart. Is one of you claustrophobic? That seems to be the worst problem right now. I can't keep these two alive and whoever is on the verge of panicking in line."  
  
"Now that you mention it, I haven't noticed it at all." Ororo exclaimed. Her claustrophobia was one of her major faults and usual led to disaster in closed, dark spaces.  
  
"I got her." Todd said as he walked followed Ororo's voice. Haiden gave a faint 'hmm' in acknowledgment. A moment later Storm quietly collapsed into Todd's arms.   
  
"Great. What now?" He said as he lay her down carefully. There was silence. "Okay, I just had a really pleasant thought."  
  
"What now?"  
  
"We caved the entrance to this place in, didn't we?"  
  
There was a chorus of moans.  
  
"Hey, it's cool, though, 'cause Miss Kitty can walk through walls right? That way at least one of us will survive."  
  
His attempt at humor was lost on the mutants. Only Kitty would survive? That was hardly fair, but if it was the very best that they could do...  
  
"Why can't I just get all of us out? I can take people with me y'know."  
  
"Because the entrance is in the middle of Fort Braddock and its too much work for you to run back and forth with people. Besides, they may have baited the place, put up inhibitors so we can't use our powers. Only you would survive that."  
  
"This can't possibly be the only chance... I know, I'll go get the others and we'll-"  
  
"Kitty. Leave it." Lance said. "Just leave it alone. Don't go all noble on us. 'Sides, you're the youngest. You've actually got a life ahead of you. The rest of us are old or freaks. Just leave it."  
  
Kitty almost cried right then and there, but she had promised that she wouldn't forsake Lucifer.   
  
"Nightcrawler?" Haiden asked.  
  
"Ja." he answered dully.  
  
"I was wondering what it's like to teleport."  
  
"It's fast."  
  
"How do you do it though? I read this one book about dragons who teleport. It's like they travel across this cold empty space to get to where they're going."  
  
"I'm not a dragon."  
  
"I know, but what do you see when you teleport." There was a sound of rustling cloth, and Haiden was suddenly staring right into Kurt's eyes.  
  
"I just think about vhere I vant to be and I'm zere."  
  
"Do you have enough energy to show me?"  
  
"I'm too hungry to teleport."  
  
"If I fix that, will you show me?"  
  
"I can't go far..." Kurt backed away, uncomfortable with Haiden's sudden interest in him.  
  
"It doesn't matter. I have an idea. If you teleport kind of like those dragons do, then you could stash us away in that alternate world. Then you'd teleport yourself someplace safe and whenever you're ready, you could get us out."  
  
Kurt thought about all the ways it could go wrong, but pushed the negative aside.  
  
"Sure." Haiden nodded, and pressed his hand against Kurt's forehead. Grinning, Kurt teleported a few feet away.  
  
Or he tried. For some reason, he stopped moving halfway there. He could see Jean and Scott and everyone else, but they looked faded. "Vhat's going on?"  
  
"It's even better than I thought. You can travel through the same alternate universe that I can."  
  
The world moved around them and suddenly they were back in the tunnel.  
  
"So vhat does zat mean?"  
  
"That means that we have two tickets outta here."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yep. Now, am I to understand that you have companions waiting for you in a hospital or something like that?"  
  
"Dr. McCoy." Kurt nodded. "Wait, who told you that?"  
  
"It's my business to know your business. I've done extensive research on everyone who may have become an ally of Phoenix. I know everything about you mutants as there is to know. Pay attention to the matter at hand. You will teleport Scott and Evan to this doctor. I'm going to give you everything I've got, so as soon as you teleport, they'll start bleeding again."  
  
"Got it." Kurt wrapped his tail around Scott's waist and picked Evan up. "See you in a minute."  
  
"No, stay with them. I can't keep you up for more than one more jump."  
  
"Oh. Okay." Kurt's eyes squinted shut. "Vhat aren't you telling me?"  
  
"Go." Haiden's tone left no room for argument, so Kurt teleported.  
  
"He won't be back. It'll be a miracle if he survives that, even with you helping him." Mystique intoned.  
  
"I only gave him enough energy to get there. He'll collapse from hunger and have to be put on an IV."  
  
"What now?"  
  
"Let me think." All of a sudden the ground shook violently beneath them.  
  
"Lance," Logan growled.  
  
"That wasn't me, honest." There was another tremor and several large chunks of rock fell from the ceiling.  
  
"Aw, damn." Haiden swore and dived for the two people closest to him, even as Storm and Mystique grabbed Kitty and Todd and Jean raced for the Professor. Haiden prayed it wasn't anything serious and teleported with Logan and Lance. 


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO! NonononononoNO! It'll cave in!" Pietro wailed. Nevertheless, the 'demolitions expert' blew the rocks in the entrance to little pebbles. Further in the cave, there was the sound of more debris falling. "Idiots!" He yelled and then raced inside the dark cave, leaving the other people to follow him.  
  
"Todd!! Lance!! Dad!!"  
  
"Hey, 'Tro. What took ya so long?"  
  
"I had to make sure my hair was straight." Pietro called, nearly laughing with relief. "Where are you?"  
  
"Dunno. You're probably stepping on us now. There was this cave in and all I know is that if it wasn't for Jean I'd be a flat toad."  
  
"Just hang on, we'll get you out."  
  
"Who's we?"  
  
"I convinced some general guy to help out."  
  
"Really? What's her name?" Pietro tried to follow the voice as he answered.  
  
"I don't know his name."  
  
"His? You mean you didn't seduce someone in the process? How unlike you."  
  
"Who says I didn't?"  
  
"Okay, man, I don't even want to think about that one."  
  
"Is Jean with you?"  
  
"Yeah. She's doin' her y'know, that thing where she picks up trash cans and throws them at us thing."  
  
"Oh, that one."  
  
"Yeah, she can't hold on long either, so any day you wanna do this is fine."  
  
"I think I found you." Pietro looked up and was blinded by a flashlight.  
  
"Sorry, kid. Are they here?"  
  
"Two of them. Yo, Toad, where're the others?"  
  
There was a long pause.  
  
"Todd? You still alive?"  
  
"We don't know where they are. We... couldn't reach the Professor, but Kitty was near him, I think they may be just kind of sitting in the middle of the rock here somewhere. And Haiden, I think he can teleport and he's got Lance and Logan with him. Kurt, Scott and Evan are at the Insititute."  
  
The soldiers had been digging industrially through all of that and soon uncovered Jean's protective sphere.  
  
"Geez, never thought I'd think your face was a welcome sight, yo." Todd looked up at Pietro, who was beaming down at the two of them.  
  
"Same here." Jean and Todd were pulled out of the hole in short order and the search for the other mutants resumed.  
  
"Come with me." The nameless general ordered the three teenagers. They had no choice but to obey. Once out of the closet, they were led to the lab that they thad trashed in their escape. "This is Doctor D. He's going to check out your cuts and get you back in working order. Stay here. If we find any other people down there, this is the first place we'll bring them, even if we have to use a sponge." He left with a nod to the man standing by the door.  
  
"That was extremely unneccesary." Todd muttered.  
  
"Are you a mutant too?" Pietro asked 'Dr. D." Todd turned around and saw him with his hands just barely touching Jean's shoulders. A closer look showed that the hundreds of tiny cuts that covered her body were disappearing.  
  
"No, and let's leave it at that." the man answered as he finished with Jean and walked to Todd. Todd kept still, decideing that if the man was going to hurt anyone, he would have hurt Pietro first.  
  
"Oh, another one of those 'more than just a mutant' people." Todd rolled his eyes. Suddenly the Doctor's hands clamped down hard on Todd's arms and he felt himself give a yelp as his feet left the ground.  
  
"What do you mean by another one?"  
  
"It's just, you know, give someone a cool gizmo and they think they're God." The man squeezed tighter as though Todd didn't weigh 159 pounds and was made of jelly. "Not you of course. Very responsible man, I can tell these kinds of things y'know."  
  
Doctor D's eyes narrowed and Todd felt as though his brain was being plowed through by a bulldozer and his lungs were being wrung like a pair of damp towels.  
  
"Haiden Malcolm is here..." Dr. D whispered. "Then Pheonix must be as well." he dropped Todd and turned away absentmindedly. Pietro caught Todd as he fell and glared at the doctor.  
  
"What's your issue? I thought you're a doctor for crying out loud. You didn't have to hurt him."  
  
"I'm not a doctor and Haiden is definitely not a mutant. He is the pinacle of the human race, the greatest that any of your kind will ever be. You should feel honored to have met him."  
  
"I am, he's a decent guy and desrves better than what he's got. Let me tell you, if you plan to hurt him, I'm gonna show you why my father is the most feared mutant on the planet."  
  
"Magneto's son? A mere mutant would never defeat me. You simply aren't on my level."  
  
"Enough of this. Man, it's like hearing you and Evan argue, yo, neither wants to give." Todd complained. "It's just a bruise and I doubt Satan could hurt Haiden if he didn't want to be hurt."  
  
"His sister sure got him good."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Pheonix is his sister. She's running around in his body."  
  
"But... that means he's a she."  
  
"She customized it a little."  
  
Todd gave a crooked grin. "I noticed the nice racks."  
  
Pietro looked at him funny for a second before he got the really, really bad joke. "I didn't know you noticed furniture like that."  
  
"Ha, you think you're the only carpenter here." They both started cracking up.  
  
"You two are disgusting." the doc interupted.  
  
"What's wrong with Jean?" Todd asked abruptly.  
  
"Shock, I guess." Pietro shrugged. "She's an X-Man. You know how they get."  
  
"I can't believe this is still about X-Men versus Brotherhood."  
  
"It'll always be about that, Todd. You know they'd never accept us."  
  
"They'd accept you."  
  
"And I wouldn't abandon you guys like that. You're my family."  
  
Todd didn't say anything at that.  
  
"What? You embarassed to be related to me?"  
  
"No, I guess, I guess I have to be the one to tell you... Magneto's dead. He died protecting Lance." Pietro blinked several times. "We tried to bring his body back, but it's probably buried now."  
  
Pietro sat down hard and stared deep in Todd's eyes. "Oh, God, you're serious."  
  
"Yeah." Todd's voice broke. "Ain't much of a family without him, y'know."  
  
"He's really dead, protecting... Lance. He did that?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Pietro pulled himself into a ball. "Really?"  
  
Todd couldn't speak through his tears. He couldn't figure out why the death of such a cold-hearted man as Magneto bothered him.  
  
"You crying Todd?"  
  
"Yeah." He whispered.  
  
"Okay. I guess I can't let you cry alone, huh?"  
  
"I just didn't want you to feel stupid when you started up."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
Todd glanced at Pietro. His face was buried in his lap, but yeah, he was crying too.  
  
"Lance is never gonna let us forget this, eh, Pietro?"  
  
"I hope so. I hope he reminds us every day." 


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Haiden, Lance and Logan ~~  
  
"Whoa." Lance put out a hand to steady himself. One second he was about to be smushed and the next he felt like he had a killer hangover. Maybe that's all it was... he'd been drinking and had one of those creepy dreams.  
  
"Don't do that again." a gruff voice growled a few feet away.  
  
"My apologies. I had forgotten how much it hurts other people to teleport. Are you two okay?"  
  
"Yeah. How 'bout you, kid?"  
  
Lance sighed. So much for the hangover theory. "I'm as okay as I can possibly be. You think the others made it out?"  
  
"Of course. The real question is what caused he earthquake to begin with."  
  
"It wasn't me, I can tell you that for sure."  
  
"Where are we?" Logan asked.  
  
Haiden looked around. "I have no idea. I just tried to get us out of that tunnel."  
  
Lance and Logan followed his gaze. They still were in a cave, but it was a lot bigger than the tunnels they had been in. There was an enourmous lake in the far corner and it glittered in the light that seemed to come out of the walls.  
  
"I smell blood, but it ain't normal blood."  
  
"I do too, but I can't get a lock on what it is. Not human in the slightest."  
  
"Ah, I smell shit." Lance said, wrinkling his nose.  
  
"Yes, there's that too."  
  
"Okay, how do we get out?" Logan turned back to the other two and waited for sugestions.  
  
"Well, we could follow those stairs and see where they lead." Lance said patronizingly.  
  
"Stairs? Where?"  
  
"There." Lance pointed to a small path that led to a stairway right up a steep cliff face. "It looks like it leads up. You know, the opposite of down."  
  
"Shut yer trap, bub."  
  
"Let's just go." Haiden interjected. "I don't have the patience for your bickering."  
  
The path was only three feet wide and broken in some places. They had to jump over rocks and debris, even a skeleton one time, though what the creature had been was anyone's guess. As they walked, Haiden looked more closely at the walls.  
  
"You were right, of course. It does get brighter the deeper down we go. My guess is that we'll break the surface in a little while. Do you see how the walls get dimmer and dimmer?"  
  
"Yeah, but what's making it glow?" Lance asked, he had been thinking the same thing.  
  
"Maybe something in the rock. Phosphorus of some such thing. I really should have paid more attantion in my geography and earth science classes. I doubt I'll ever get any sleep until I find out what this rock is."  
  
"Get a sample or two to take with you. We're almost out, you can see the light from here." Lance pointed past Haiden to a glow that was a bit brighter than the rest of the cave.  
  
"It's artificial light. There's someone else down here." Logan whispered and there was a soft snikt sound as his claws unsheathed.  
  
"Great."  
  
"Halt." A voice called from above them.  
  
"How the Hell..." Haiden began.  
  
"Speak your names and your purpose."  
  
"Logan. This is Haiden and Lance. We're tryin' to find a way out of here."  
  
There was a sudden flare of light and the three of them blinked their eyes to adjust to the brightness. THe light was actually a ball of light held by a man... who was floating in thin air.  
  
Or rather, was flying. Every few seconds he would flap his great wings as he peered at the three humans.  
  
"What creatures are you? How did you get here?"  
  
"Well, I'd love to chat, but I'm kinda tired right now. Maybe if I got a bit more comfortable I'd be willing to talk." Logan eyed the winged man. His gut told him that the guy wasn't a mutant.  
  
"Very well. You may continue forward. A guide will await you." The light was extinguished and a rushing sound marked the stranger's departure.  
  
"Weird."  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"Let's go." 


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Kitty ~~  
  
Kitty was scared beyond all rational thought. Storm and Mystique couldn't get her to move and were afraid that she would pass out. If that happened they would all die, surrounded by stone that fit tighter than skin.  
  
"Kitty, come on, we have to get out of here." Storm beseeched.  
  
"She's hopeless. We'd have been better off on our own." Mystique grumbled.  
  
"Please, Mystique. You aren't helping at all. We have to work together, not criticize each other."  
  
"I wish I had your faith. For a while back there I thought the girl actually had a head on her shoulders. Too bad she lost it."  
  
Deep within the trembling confines of her mind, Kitty heard and understood. Mystique was complimenting her and trying to goad her back to her senses. Unfortunately it was easier said than done.  
  
Kitty really did want to help, but she was just one person, one insignificant mutant who didn't even have an aggressive power. What could she possibly do?  
  
Desperation sloshed through every fibre of Kitty's being like water in a balloon.   
  
I wish I was strong like everyone else, she thought. Then I'd be able to do something.  
  
"What's wrong?" A voice asked her. It sounded strangely like...  
  
"Lucifer? Are you here? How'd you get out?" Kitty twisted around, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but all she saw was rock. Of course, she reminded herself, you phased through all them. It's going to be a very dull view from here til we get out.  
  
"I am far from where you are now, but I can sense your presence. What is wrong?"  
  
"There was a cave in and I grabbed Storm and Mystique and phased. But I think I fell down and now I can't tell which way is up, or even if we're standing in the middle of the rocks that fell or rocks that were part of the floor."  
  
"Hmm. It's a good thing you didn't move then. You may have fallen further."  
  
Kitty's heart swelled. She wasn't a failure after all.  
  
"I think I can help. Count to fifty and I will transport you somewhere else. I cannot guarantee the location's safety, but you will be in less of a predicament there."  
  
"Thank you SO much, you're an angel." Kitty began counting, bolstered by Lucifer's words.  
  
~~ Lucifer ~~  
  
Every bone in his body screamed in agony as Valzinameku slammed him against the ceiling of the prison and pounded him straight through the two inch adamantite sheet. Adamantite was the weaker, pure form of adamantium, and that was the only thing that saved Lucifer. His light frame and fragile bones could never have survived that abuse from the stronger metal and his healing magic was furiously working to repair the damage. Even so, he was more than ten feet in the air before he could even think about the potential damage of landing.  
  
Twelve feet in the air and he sensed Kitty, trapped and disoriented.  
  
Fourteen feet and the spell was prepared. He began counting with Kitty.  
  
Twenty feet and he was still rising. It felt as though he was dying and Valzinameku's blows had somehow made him defy gravity itself. At the number fifty, Lucifer released the spell that would take Kitty, Storm and Mystique to a safehouse in the woods.  
  
He finally began falling, tumbling through the air as the cursed demon thrust his claw through the earth.  
  
I'm going to be smashed flat when I hit the ground. If he doesn't get me first. Wait- Lucifer thought. What am I thinking? It's not like I have to land at all.  
  
Lucifer cleared his mind as the ground flew closer and summoned his most prized possesions.  
  
Eight feet from the ground, Lucifer's wings spread with a snap and a rush of air that hit the ground with a low thud.  
  
Vulgates weren't meant to live in caves, but they could if they tucked their wings away. Give one an open area to maneuver...  
  
Lucifer pulled up, propelling himself upwards with long, powerful wing beats. As he gained altitude, he changed. Where once he had hands, claws, no, talons sprouted. His jaw bone shifted down and changed so that it could unhinge at a moments notice to bare his new, jagged teeth that looked more like shards of broken glass. Already finely toned muscles slimmed and grew even more firm and corded. His deep blue eyes narrowed to thin slits that picked up far more movement and depth than before. The change was not just external. His lungs changed, now they could adapt to rapid ascents and descents, his heart did as well, becoming more resiliant to the rapidly shifting air pressures and altitudes. New muscles formed for the sole purpose of giving him better control of his wings and enhancing maneuverability.  
  
All of this was acheived in three seconds, three seconds that took him more than a mile above the ground, three seconds that put him in the perfect position to dive on Valzinameku and drive his talons home. Lucifer hissed through his shard-like teeth. The tables had just turned.  
  
~~  
  
A/N  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers... I would have put this in here sooner, but I had already uploaded the first twenty-odd chapters. About the Jean/Phoenix thing, I was kind of hoping no one would notice that Phoenix is Jean's codename, but I guess I'm busted. I'm open for ideas, although I've written ahead again, and it might take a few days to work the idea in. Thanks again, Believers... 


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Hank McCoy ~~  
  
"I'm concerned about the well being of the others. We've gotten no word from any of them and then Kurt teleports back with Evan and Scott near death. I'm torn between staying here and waiting for anyone else who may drag themselves in and going out to find them." Dr. McCoy looked at the dozen students who were assembled before him. Earlier that morning, Kurt had teleported into the Infirmary cradling Evan in his arms and Scott with his tail. His grip had been so tight that he actually drew blood from Scott.  
  
"I think we should wait a while longer. Besides, we have no idea what going on outside this room. The rest of the Institute could be crawling with soldiers, they might even be outside the door right now."  
  
"Don't frighten everyone, Bobby. It's true that we don't know the condition of the rest of the Institute. We're safe in these lower decks, the Professor built them to withstand anything, especially an invasion of this sort."  
  
"I know, but we have to maintain an aspect of reality down here. I mean, we're down here watching The Godfather while our people are getting their arms ripped off."  
  
"Bobby." Hank warned.  
  
"Look, I'm bored out of my mind. I want to help. Why'd I have to stay anyhow?"  
  
"Because I need someone responsible to help me here. I thought that you were qualified, but I guess I was wrong. Make yourself useful and change Scott's IV and check Kurt's." Hank led the other students out of the Sick Room and left Bobby to his task.  
  
Bobby replaced the IV for both of them and sat on the hard chair between them. "I wish one of you would wake up and tell us what's going on. Maybe we could help." He slowly reached a hand out to touch Scott's empty sleeve. "I guess that means you lost your watch too." He whispered and abruptly stood and walked to Evan's bedside. "You remember that time you fell off the ramp at the park? I thought you were dead, you fell so hard... now's when you shake your head and start laughing at me for being such a chicken." Bobby waited for a second, hoping against all hope that it really was just a bad joke and that Evan would sit up and laugh everything away.  
  
He didn't and Bobby found himself pacing the length of the room when Hank got back. Neither said anything. They just waited and worried.  
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
Part of him heard Bobby's plea and wanted desperately to answer. The other part just wanted to hide away in this blissful darkness forever.  
  
But Evan realized it wasn't blissful and the dark was only an illusion. Behind that imagined wall was a tangle of emotions that he didn't want. Why was this happening? How had they been discovered?  
  
Of course he knew. There was no way to deny it. Pheonix had told on them and from there things had gone sour. Why did she betray them?   
  
I thought she was going to cooperate, for crying out loud. Why?  
  
As Evan lay on the way too hard bed of the infirmary, he tried to piece as much together as he could. Pheonix was Haiden's sister, not the same person. Pheonix was the bad guy here, and Pheonix had played him for a fool. But, Evan thought, there's still all that information I found on the disks... It doesn't make any se-  
  
Suddenly a bunch of pieces clicked. Evan remembered how he had thought the documents had been about two people the first time he read them. The names Pheonix and Haiden were used interchangably.  
  
And different people wrote the documents. Evan groaned and his body contorted. What a mistake to make... he had led the X-Men to their demise.  
  
But it can be fixed. It can always be fixed. The only question is how...  
  
Back at the Institute, Hank and Bobby frantically worked over Evan's body. His spasm had jarred one of the IVs and pulled a needle out. Just when they thought it had passed and were replacing them, the spasm returned. The result was a broken needle, halfway embedded in Evan's mangled arm.  
  
Think, Evan, think. There has to be something you can do.  
  
Bobby looked at a computer monitor. "His brain waves are way up, doc. I'm no genius, but even I can tell that that's bad."  
  
Hank spared a moment to glance at the screen. "This isn't good." He scuttled around the bed and hit a few keys on the keyboard. "It's like he's gone into hyperdrive... his body can't take this kind of abuse, not now."  
  
"C'mon, Evan. Cut it out. It's not funny anymore." Bobby whispered.  
  
Evan didn't hear this time. He was too engrossed in what was going on inside his head.  
  
-- I have to get better. Have to find out what's going on. If I can do that, I can make a difference. --  
  
"Bobby, I need you to-"  
  
Hank's order was cut off by another tremor from Evan. Dozens of his signature spikes thrust their way through his skin and bristled there.  
  
"Get down, Bobby. Slow and easy. Slide as close to the bed as you can." Hank whispered as he edged to where Scott and Kurt were. He eased Kurt off the bed and in the relative safety of its metal base and moved to do the same with Scott. Scott was closest to Evan and the dangerous, quivering spikes, and to be frank, Hank didn't have much faith in the metal base, not when it was so close. The problem was that Scott was hooked up to several IVs and monitors and it would take hours to detach him from them all. If Hank's guess was right, they barely had seconds.  
  
"Bobby, after this, I want you to take Kurt and Scott, if you can, into the next room, don't come back in here until you're positive that its safe."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Hank McCoy watched Evan shudder and closed his eyes, knowing what came next. He covered Scott with his massive body and waited for the impact.  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
{Skewp, skewp, skewp}  
  
Bobby cringed at the sound of the bone projectiles flying in every direction.  
  
{Clang, Fzzzzzz}  
  
That was probably one of the monitors, he mused, and then jumped as three of them buried themselves in the tile right in front of him. And that was close, he added.  
  
There was a multitude of pinging noises and stuff falling. Hank would have quite a time fixing it all up again. As soon as it got quiet, Bobby counted to two hundred and then peeked over the top of the bed.  
  
The first thing he saw was a spike. He dived for the ground as fast as he could and waited for the last missile to fly. He waited for an eternity before he inched back up and looked again.  
  
"No..."  
  
The spike wasn't pointing outwards, and a pool of blood was soaked up by Evan's torn shirt.  
  
"No... Doctor M-" Bobby looked up and right into the glazed eyes of the very same man he had been turning to for help. Three spikes dripped blood onto Hank's white lab coat.  
  
"Oh, God, no." Bobby backed away, mind struggling to cope with the surreal scene before him. He tripped over the spikes in the floor and fell hard, scratching himself deeply in the glass from a broken monitor. "Just a bad dream. Very bad dream. No more weird foods right before bedtime." Bobby drew himself into a tight, shuddering ball. "Wake up.   
  
Wake up. I wanna wake up."  
  
~~   
  
A/N Am I evil or what? You'll never guess who's next... My only problem is working Jean into a really horrible death. I hate her, but my muse just won't let her die...  
  
P.S. Sorry, Evan fans, I probably broke your hearts this time around. I spent about three seconds crying before I figured out what happens next. Should I give you a hint? Sure... why not. Someone's gonna die soon...  
  
You didn't really think it'd be that easy, right? 


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Fort Braddock ~~  
  
"I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news for you." The General (his badge read Matthias) took a deep breath. "We've found only one other person in the tunnel."  
  
"No." Jean whispered, the first move she'd made since they escaped the tunnel.  
  
"Yes. The Professor was crushed in the rock fall. I'm sorry."  
  
"Well, that makes it at least halfway even." Pietro muttered.  
  
"That means that everyone else is safe, yo." Todd said, praying no one else had heard Pietro's uncalled for comment. "We're all fine, but we don't know about them. We should keep our cool and try to find them."  
  
"Why bother? We're cursed." Pietro shot back.  
  
"Then I propose we all go down together. I'm sick of not knowing what's going on. It seems to me that the only reason we're having problems now is because we're so scattered that no one really knows whats happening. Stop acting like a bunch of big babies and get a grip." Todd glared at Jean and Pietro. "The first place to look is the Institute. We know that at least three people are there. What we don't know is if they're bleeding to death or got jumped by a bunch of humans."  
  
"Yeah, whatever. You seem to be the boss now."  
  
"Someone has to. Let's go."  
  
~~ Pheonix ~~  
  
She stared at the thing rising from the ground and nearly cried. For some reason, her heart knew that it was over before it even shook the dirt off its back. Multiple limbs, all of them in constant motion, dragged the monster's bulk from the ground. Claws, pincers, hands... the thing looked like it even had a tentacle or two. The head had no face, no mouth, no teeth, nothing. In a way she was relieved. No mouth meant it couldn't eat her.  
  
Then it broke free of the heavy earth it's lower body was buried in.  
  
The damn monster's face was in the middle of its chest and it's teeth were horrible. The thing was definitely a carnivore, and with the way it was drooling, it was definitely hungry, too. It stood on powerful legs and fixed its dark, multifaceted eyes on the humans/mutants before it. Comparing it to them was like comparing a chimp to an elephant. If it didn't step on them first, it could easily stuff them into its mouth.  
  
And that's exactly what the thing did.  
  
One pincer grabbed three officers and tossed them into the mouth. Pheonix took a moment to notice how the teeth were arranged in rows, like a shark, but spun around instead of chomping down. Kinda like a sink garbage disposal thing, she abstractly thought, and then she was gone.  
  
~~ Remy and Rogue ~~  
  
They weren't really expecting anything in particular. Well, that wasn't precise, they were expecting something terrible, but everything was happening so quickly that their minds hadn't come up with the nasty little details that would have made things worse than they actually were.  
  
Of course, not THAT much worse, since things had reached a climax.  
  
It was as if a picture was taken at the same time as their hearts beat.  
  
-Thump-  
  
Pheonix frozen in front of them and the monster with about a dozen soldiers in its many appendages.  
  
-Thump-  
  
Pheonix and the surviving soldiers running. The monster peering intently at the two of them.  
  
-Thump-  
  
A man-like monster appeared out of nowhere and crashed into the big monster.  
  
-Thump-  
  
It looks surprised, but the little one is focused on Remy and Rogue now.  
  
Suddenly the spell is broken and the two of them turn tail and run.  
  
With a screeching roar, the big one throws the tiny monster away and charges at the two mutants.  
  
Remy was knocked to the ground with Rogue and pulled he quickly out of the way just in time to avoid the two of them being cruched by the thing's claws.  
  
"Rogue? Le's go." He panted and grabbed her hand and gave a slight tug.  
  
She spasmed, and Remy leaned down to see how bad she was.  
  
He gasped and ran away without her.  
  
~~ Lucifer ~~  
  
There was nothing like catching your enemy completely unaware esspecially if you came from overhead while they were distracted. Sure, there was always the danger that they'd move and you'd crash into the ground, and yeah, if you misjudged the distance to the ground you were doomed, but when it all came down to it, that was the point of such maneuvers. Even humans catch themselves running headfirst into something reckless, knowing there was an easier way.   
  
There just was no fun in that.  
  
As it was, Lucifer's dive was perfect. He hit Valzinameku right in his weak point. It should have been over.  
  
It wasn't. The damn thing clamped down on Lucifer and then went after those kids as though it hadn't just been hit by a 150 pounds of muscle and claws and teeth that had more than a mile's advantage of gravity to give it more weight.  
  
And Lucifer's dive -had- been perfect. So why was Valzinameku still moving?  
  
It wasn't Valzinameku, Lucifer decided. It was something else. The question was, What?  
  
There was no time to ponder the question as the creature redirected its attention to Lucifer. He willed his wings away and waited for an opportunity to escape again.  
  
~~  
  
A/N Death, Capture, Abandonment. I wish I could find more novel like this. I really refuse to give these guys a break. Todd fans, you might want to stick with me here, I need someone to protect me from all the people I've ticked off so far. 


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ At the Institute ~~  
  
It was incredible how a common enemy could turn the tables, Todd thought to himself. As soon as they had shown up at the Institute, the soldiers had parted like water, a few offered consolation, others turned their heads-though Toad was still working out whether it was in shame or disgust. Yeah, he decided, disgust. As he looked back at Pietro and Jean he actually started laughing.  
  
"What's so funny all of a sudden?" Pietro demanded.  
  
"I was just thinking that I, Todd the Toad, am leading for a change. Not only that, but Bayville's two best dressers are following me and look like they fought World War Two all by themselves."  
  
"Yes, Toad. It's hilarious." Pietro droned. If life was a circus they both knew that Todd had to be the lamest clown in it.  
  
Todd paused in the Great Hall to get his bearings. He and Pietro both knew their way around the Institute. They had hacked into Xavier's computer dozens of times, accessed files, altered them... they had even used it to take a virtual tour of the place.  
  
And then they went and took a real tour of it.  
  
Of course they knew where the hidden paths were, oh and those passwords- there was nothing on a computer that Todd couldn't get to.  
  
Jean was more than a little disturbed when they reached the airtight vault to the underground bombshelter. Both Pietro and Todd looked at her expectantly.  
  
"Yo, we ain't Mystique or nothin'. We need you do this part."  
  
Jean blinked. The verification phase...  
  
"Jean Grey, power- telepathy." she spoke into a grill beside the door and placed her hand on the doorknob. the delicate sensors within it read her handprint.  
  
A second later, the doors slid open quietly. Behind the three mutants, several of the soldiers gasped. Todd and Pietro just smiled. They had been here before, though it had taken them much longer to get in.  
  
The hall was bare, but it was huge.  
  
"We'll check the infirmary, you find the others. They're less likely to attack you than us." Todd said to Jean. Then he and Pietro and two military doctors walked away.  
  
"How do they know where..." Jean shook her head. It didn't matter. She headed in a different direction, trusting the soldier to follow.  
  
~~ Bobby Drake ~~  
  
"This is not good. In fact, its awful."  
  
"Who is this kid again?"  
  
"Bobby, I think."  
  
"Bobby, c'mon, I need you to come with us. We're going to Jean." Someone touched his shoulder and he slowly looked up. Whoever it was had brown hair... Scott? But his visor was gone...  
  
"What happened to your glasses? I didn't know you had brown eyes. How'd you do it?"  
  
Scott looked behind him at someone else, it looked like Pietro, and shrugged.  
  
"C'mon, yo. I don't like the way this place feels."  
  
Scott pulled Bobby up, and Bobby noticed how tired and beaten Scott looked.  
  
Of course, I probably don't look much better, he reminded himself.  
  
They passed Evan and Dr. McCoy, now surrounded by people in uniforms, and a table with...  
  
"Scott?"  
  
"Yo, I'm Toad. Stop calling me that already."  
  
Bobby looked from the table to the man standing beside him. True, the other guy was shorter looking, and his hair was lighter, but... how could there be two Scotts?  
  
"Let's just find Jean."  
  
That was something Scott would say. Bobby nodded. Jean would tell him what was going on.  
  
~~ Jean Grey ~~  
  
The kids were scared, but relieved to see her. How could she tell them that so many of their friends may be dead... and the Professor...  
  
"Yo, Jean. Tell him I'm not Scott. He keeps insisting that I am. Its annoying."  
  
She turned around with a sigh and saw... Scott?  
  
Jean looked closer, no, the visor was missing, and his hair was too light.  
  
"Why ya lookin' at me like that?"  
  
"Well, you do look a little like him. After a rough day..."  
  
Todd made a disgusted noise. "You guys think you're so funny."  
  
Pietro started coughing uncontrollably- Jean sensed he was covering a laugh.  
  
"They said he's alive, though. They're taking him upstairs for now. There's... well," Todd's voice grew heavy. "Can we talk away from all the little people?"  
  
Jean began trembling, but she followed Todd out of the room.  
  
"Evan and the big blue guy... they didn't make it. Kurt's not in there, either."  
  
When Jean didn't respond, Todd ran a hand through his hair. "How are we gonna tell the little ones?"  
  
"You say that as if you care." she said, voice devoid of emotion.  
  
"I do. Its just us. Me and Pietro, you and Bobby, Scott's alive, but just barely. We have to stick together. We have to beat Valzinameku, or everyone else's dieing will be for nothing. I know this is like some really bad movie, but we have to do this. I remember I would watch those things and think to myself, Why do they always run upstairs? Why don't they just get a gun and shoot the monster? Why? But I know. They run because they're too scared to do anything else. Up, because they can't think of anything else to do, because deep down they hope that an angel will come save them. For so long, they've seen movies and heard stories of how normal weapons don't work on monsters. When reality hits them, they're just too stunned to do anything. We can't afford to do that, Jean. We have to pull together for this. If we don't, everyone else will run and fight this with their bare hands. We have the weapons," he gestured towards the ever growing collection of soldiers who had gathered to hear his speech. "I have the courage. If I have to hold your hand the whole way, I'll give you enough to come with me. I won't have to though, will I?"  
  
Jean stared at him, seeing in a different light. She couldn't read any emotions from Todd, but it was obvious that the humans believed him.  
  
No wonder Bobby thought he was Scott, she reflected. He acts just like him. Maybe it took a crisis to bring it out.  
  
"Will I, Jean? Please tell me I won't. I know you're not Scott or the Professor, but you're strong enough. We're so much alike, y'know. I pretend to be useless because I can't draw attention to myself. I've got a record in several places. You, you stay in the background, rely on other people to do the hard work because you're afraid that you'll get to the point where you can't control yourself. Pretenders. But we don't have to worry now. There's nothing that we could do that's worse than what's happening now. We can stop holding back. Don't worry. I'll help you. You won't lose yourself in it. I promise."  
  
How could she say no? He was promising more than he knew, but there was a small cinder inside her that was warming to the idea. Pretenders, he had said. It was time to stop pretending. They weren't getting anything from it, and if they died fighting Valzinameku, then they would die free.  
  
Jean straightened with a quick grin. "Let me go change into my uniform."  
  
"Take Bobby with you, then. We're going to have to trust the government with the kids."  
  
Todd turned and froze in place. All the mutants were there, as well as the humans. They had all been listening.  
  
"He's got a point, boys. Let's go out there and give it our all. No more holding back." General Matthias said, drawing all attention from Todd to himself, but managing to slip a wink in for Todd.  
  
As Jean and Bobby ran upstairs for their suits, Todd sighed.  
  
"That was close. What were you thinking? You can't use that power on a telepath unless I'm around." Pietro was at his side in a flash.  
  
"I was desperate. We can't afford for her to bail out."  
  
"But still,"  
  
"She would have gotten suspicious if both of us cornered her. She needs to think she decided on her own. After a while, I'll remove the influence and she'll follow along because she thinks she decided to."  
  
"You take too many risks."  
  
"You don't take enough."  
  
"Dammit, Todd, I knew I'd regret tricking you into telling me about that other power of yours."  
  
"I don't. It's nice to know that I can trust someone."  
  
~~  
  
A/N Alright, here's where it starts getting confusing. If you have any questions, click the button. I get the feeling that these next chapters will seem a bit rushed, but I'm not good at conveying time in stories, the basic point is thateverything is happening really fast and no one knows what's really going on. If someone seems out of character, it's because of one of two reasons; they're exhausted and near their limit(ie. Jean) or they were really just pretending before, and the stress is forcing them to drop the act(ie. Todd). 


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Remy ~~  
  
He was in an alley.  
  
Somehow, it always came bcak to an alley.  
  
Rogue...I'm sorry. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save you. What should I do? he pleaded with a ghost of a memory.  
  
'If you ever need anything, the Professor will help.'  
  
"Thank's, love." Remey said out loud.  
  
He picked himself up and began the trek to the Institute.  
  
The ghost followed him.  
  
~~ Lucifer ~~  
  
Lucifer was tired of waiting. It was boring, and the imposter wasn't doing anything in particular.  
  
So Lucifer squeezed out of its grasp and flew away, laughing mockingly.  
  
That was when he sensed two things.  
  
Number one was that he shouldn't have been able to escape.  
  
Number two was that there was a very powerful magic that was coming from the far end of town.  
  
The imposter noticed too, because it took off after the wielder. Lucifer did too. There was no way that the monster would reach that person first.  
  
~~ Pheonix ~~  
  
Her mind was made up. A terrible mistake had been made and it was all her fault. She had betrayed her master and because of her, he was dead. She would fix it. First she had to get to him.  
  
She knew where he would be. She summoned her magic and sped up. Things would be set to right. She had betrayed everyone around her, and the one person who only wanted to make things better for her was dead because of her damn decietfulness.  
  
"I'm coming and I'm sorry I failed you the first time."  
  
Then the world around her erupted in a flurry of feathers and arms.  
  
~~ Todd ~~  
  
"Are we ready?"  
  
"Yes, sir." a young woman in uniform saluted him and he uncomfortably returned the gesture.  
  
Pietro had gone back to the mansion and picked up his uniform. His real uniform.  
  
Gone was the baggy green cotton, gone was the flimsy metal guard. Todd, the Toad was now Todd, formerly known as the most wanted man in Canada.  
  
It was incredible how fast everyone recognized him once he put his uniform on.  
  
It was a deep green color, this armour of his, and fit only him. It had cost a fortune, but in the days when he had been Slay- a mercenary- the cost had been a mere drop in the bucket. How carelessly he had earned money back then... thinking about it made him wonder why he was still alive. Surely he had made enemies, and how does a teenager become a mercenary anyway?  
  
As much as it confused him now, Todd couldn't help but be thankful for those years of hunting mutants. No one else here knew just what they were doing.   
  
"I'm ready." Pietro was back at his side. He was the best thing that had happened to Todd. Pietro was the reason he had quit hunting mutants. Todd hadn't even known that he was a mutant at the time. Then he had been commissioned to kill Eric Lensherr, or Magneto as people called him. Insead of finding the Master of Magnetism, he had found his son.  
  
They hit it off perfectly. Pietro told Todd everything he needed to know about Magneto's weak spots and how to find him. Long after they had spoken, Todd realized something that Pietro had said.  
  
"I can't believe that someone out there doesn't care. I mean, look at you. You don't know me, or anything about me, yet you're willing to sit here while I spill my guts. It's kinda funny though, I never talk about important stuff to anyone, so why you? Who knows? It's like one of those cliches or something, don't you agree? Do you believe that some people are destined to meet? I think I can see into the future sometimes, we're gonna be a lot closer than you'd think to look at us."  
  
"Hey, what's up?" Pietro nudged Todd with his elbow.  
  
He would never know, of course. That was a secret that Todd planned to take to the grave. He had come back to Bayville after things cooled down and no one was seriously looking for him.  
  
Who should he meet there, but Pietro.  
  
His disqise had been so complete that it was a full year before Pietro noticed that Todd was familiar.  
  
"You ever regret meeting me?" Pietro asked, just to fill the silence.  
  
"I regret that it took so long. I regret that you feel you need to ask that dumb question just to say something. Haven't you ever heard of a comfortable silence?"  
  
"Never figured out how it can be comfortable."  
  
Todd smiled. What was there to regret? Pierto had discovered what he really was not long after he figured out that he had met Todd before. Mages were rare in this world, and even less welcome than mutants since there was no gene to tell who was one and who wasn't.  
  
Todd Tolansky had the grand luck of being a mutant and a mage.  
  
He summoned his power and channeled it through Pietro. They had found that channelling it through Pietro made it stonger for some reason. Maybe one day they would know. Until then...  
  
"Let's go, then."  
  
Toad, Quicksilver, Jean, Iceman and several dozen soldiers began their sweep of the city, searching for any other mutants and for Valzinameku.  
  
Remy reached the Institute just as they were nearing the place where Valzinameku had surfaced.  
  
As he raced to follow them, Phoenix arrived, only to find that Evan's body had been moved to the base along with all the other mutants.  
  
Valzinamku and Lucifer fought their way to the Institute just in time to feel another surge of magic from the Eastern side of the city.   
  
It was like a cosmic game of phone tag.  
  
Everyone was headed in the same direction.  
  
Everyone was headed towards Kitty, Mystique and Storm.  
  
They were standing right over the place where Logan, Haiden and Lance were.  
  
It's a small world, after all.  
  
~~ Haiden, Lance and Logan ~~  
  
They finally made it to the end of the stairs and met up with the guide.  
  
She was hot, in that weird, inhuman creature with wings way, Lance thought. Logan looked like he agreed. Haiden... the poor guy was stunned.  
  
Lance chuckled and nudged Logan with his elbow. They both watched the guide and Haiden stare at each other, highly amused by the spectacle.  
  
"What are you?" Haiden finally asked.  
  
"I am a Vulgate. My name is Delvya. What are you?"  
  
"I'm a Mage-Mutant. What is this place? And why are you here? I heard that the Vulgates were all dead."  
  
This is the home of the last Vulgates. We are mostly women and children. We are here because we vowed not to leave until a great evil was vanquished, however, no one who has gone out to defeat it has returned. We cannot leave because all the exits are blocked.  
  
Lance and Logan glared at Haiden, who winced.  
  
"How long have you been down here?"  
  
"Several eons."  
  
"So... let's see these closed up exits. Maybe we can open them again."  
  
"Why would you do that?"  
  
"So we can leave." Logan beat Haiden to it.  
  
"You cannot."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"The Fates have prescribed that you be trapped with us in this cave. To rebel against the Fates is death."  
  
The three men looked at each other.  
  
"Ri-i-i-ight." Lance drawled. The chick sounded crazy now.  
  
"So, which way?"  
  
She turned without another word and led them away from the stairs into the village. 


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: Furor Paxx and VulgateOfEarth do not own the X-Men or any affiliates. All are the property of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc and its various affiliates and partners. Phoenix Malcolm, Haiden Malcolm and all irregular characters are the sole property of Furor Paxx and are being used with permission.   
  
~~ Kitty, Storm and Mystique ~~  
  
"I don't believe this. Now we're lost above ground. You X-Men have no sense of direction."  
  
"Well, its not like you're helping either." Kitty shot back.  
  
"We're near the city. You can see the search lights from here."  
  
"But they're to our left."  
  
"What, pray tell, is your point." Mystique asked Kitty, who was staring at the lights in confusion.  
  
"Well, I remember that we could see the base from the Institute. It was always at our right. But now it's at our left."  
  
"So?"  
  
"We would have to standing on water to see it at out left. It's on a cliff, right? That's why it's so safe. The only way for people to get in or out is in one direction. Or if you're a mutant and can fly."  
  
"So that's not the base." Storm whispered, a cold numb feeling weighing in her stomach like lead.  
  
"No. It's the Institute."  
  
"And how…"  
  
"Because that's the base." Kitty turned around and pointed at a big black shape behind them.  
  
"Why's it so dark?"  
  
"I think because Valzinameku got here before us."  
  
Storm and Mystique looked closer.  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
It was him.  
  
"What is it about Bayville that attracts these kinds of things?" A voice muttered darkly behind them.  
  
"Boys!" Mystique exclaimed.  
  
"Hey, Boss-Lady. You okay?" Todd asked with a faint smile.  
  
"What are you wearing?"  
  
"Clothes, I hope."  
  
She gave a frustrated sigh. "So who's left?"  
  
"Funny you should ask." Todd answered in a deadpan voice.  
  
"Just you…" Storm looked at Jean, Bobby, Pietro and Todd. "Just seven of us…"  
  
"Scott's alive, but just barely. Evan's dead. Kurt's gone. The other blue guy is dead, too."  
  
"No. Not Hank."  
  
"Who cares? Right now let's worry about the living. There's still the chance that Kurt, Lance, Logan and Haiden are okay. Oh, fuck. Phoenix is still running around, too. Is there anyone else we forgot?"  
  
"Remy." Kitty said.  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, the traitor. Well, good luck findin-"  
  
"What's going on? Dis ting just popped out o' de ground an'…"  
  
"Remy? Good to see you again. That makes eight of us and a bunch of humans with big guns. Think it's enough?" Pietro asked Todd.  
  
"You're kidding, right? What good are you, Kitty and Mystique gonna be against that thing? We only have five people and a bunch of guns that wouldn't even work on us. We need a plan. How many of us have seen this thing up close?"  
  
"We three have." Storm offered.  
  
"Me, too." Remy said grimly.  
  
"Does it have any weaknesses?"  
  
"No." All three of them said at once.  
  
"If this were a movie, there would be a sage or something who would show up and tell us the history of this thing and how to defeat it."  
  
"Where is Evan?"  
  
Phoenix stumbled towards them, clutching her side.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"He's dead."  
  
"I know that, fool! Take me to him. I have to fix this, its my fault."  
  
"What?"  
  
The ground beneath them shook so violently that they were all knocked from their feet.  
  
"Here she is…" A grating voice proclaimed. "Little human creature, thank you for keeping my body safe. I think I will take it now."  
  
A great dark arm separated from the pitch black cloud and wrapped around Phoenix's waist. With a shout, Todd surged forward, a blade of dark metal grasped tightly. It connected solidly, but had no effect. Todd made a small, frightened noise before a tentacle shot out and knocked him straight into the wall of Fort Braddock. He slid to the ground and lay still.  
  
"Fire!" General Matthias shouted to his followers. Immediately, a rain of metal showered the creature. "What the…"   
  
Valzinameku laughed. With a shrug, all the bullets slid off his hide.  
  
"This can't be happening." Jean whispered. She willed Todd to move, to do anything. He was their only hope. He promised…  
  
"This is not how it will end!" Phoenix shrieked. "I must fix it, I must!" She began to glow with an eerie light and thrashing wildly to escape.  
  
"Calm yourself, human. This will not last long." The light grew until she beamed like a star.  
  
'Now, Jean. Now!' Todd's voice echoed in her mind. Jean looked at Bobby, he had heard it too. Remy drew an entire deck of cards from his pocket and Storm gathered energy for a massive lightning bolt. As one, they attacked.  
  
~~ Phoenix ~~  
  
She was back again, with the Masters. Somehow, they looked different. They looked… wasted away. Phoenix sighed and the image was blasted away. 'Poor Haiden. What he must think of me now…'  
  
"Evelyn? Eve? What are you doing?" She turned around and saw him there.  
  
"I'm fixing things."  
  
"But-"  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
Suddenly, she was aware of the world again. The pain, the power… "I'm fixing it."  
  
There was a stroke of lightning and Evelyn died.  
  
~~ Lucifer ~~  
  
It had taken him a minute to regain his sense of direction. That was dangerous for someone flying in the air, but he managed to land safely, if not gracefully. He looked up at the girl that the imposter held in his hands. She was glowing like a Mage-light, and quickly absorbing all the magic from the area. Lucifer figured it would only be a matter of seconds before he couldn't stand anymore. 'Yet another downside to being a creature made of magic.' He hoped she wouldn't draw enough to kill him completely.  
  
As Lucifer stood watching the spectacle, he noticed the clouds swirling ominously. He covered his eyes just as the lightening bolt snapped the sky in half and stabbed the imposter like a golden knife.  
  
The magic vacuum stopped suddenly.  
  
Lucifer clenched his teeth and looked up at the monster. Had it managed to transfer it's mind and powers, its former body would have collapsed… but something had gone wrong…  
  
"Oh, shit. She said she was gonna fix it. Did she mean…" Lucifer turned to regard the human who had walked up beside him.  
  
"What?"  
  
"She performed an ultimate sacrifice to bring Evan back to life."  
  
Lucifer gasped. It was never a good idea to play with the dead, but for someone as powerful as that girl to put all her power into a resurrection…  
  
"He's gonna be a monster. There's no way Daniels can cope with that kind of power. He'll be at least as powerful as me, and if something goes wrong…"  
  
"Fates preserve us," Lucifer murmured. There was always the possibility that he would go mad with the power. From what he had learned of the life that mutants were forced to endure, that would be a very bad thing. "We need help with this."  
  
"Who would help us? No one likes Earth. That's why all the Mages left."  
  
"They left? When?"  
  
"About fifty years ago, there's no one left. Besides, what could they do that I couldn't?"  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, Todd Tolansky. Earth Mage and Mutant."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Pietro! Find Evan! Take him to the Institute! Everyone else, retreat! Retreat!" Todd yelled as he dragged Lucifer away.  
  
"What are you doing?" Lucifer demanded as they ran away from Valzinameku.  
  
"Lance." was all that Todd said before the ground below them took on a life of its own.  
  
"WHOOOOWHEEEEE!!! I ROCK!!" Came a cry from the jagged hole that opened not far from where the two Mages had been standing.  
  
"Wuwe? What the hell is wuwe?"  
  
"Aw, get off it, I'm tired."  
  
"Where's Phoenix? She was here, I can sense it."  
  
"How about worrying about how to get up there first. We're still underground, y'know."  
  
"The Fates will not look kindly upon you for this."  
  
"Seems to me that they can look all they want. They already decided I'm bustin' outta here and I'm gonna die, so what's it matter? All your Fates this and Fates that talk is givin' me a headache."  
  
"TODD! PIETRO! MYSTIQUE! I KNOW ONE OF YOU IS UP THERE!!"  
  
Todd sighed and then laughed weakly. "He's in a good mood."  
  
"C'MON, LEMME OUTTA HERE! I'M HUNGRY! TODD? ITS YOU, I KNOW IT! I CAN SMELL YOU A MILE AWAY BUDDY…"  
  
Todd peered over the lip of the hole. "Really?"  
  
"Not really. The funny chick said you were up there."  
  
"Ah."  
  
Lucifer leapt into the hole and stared intently at the woman.  
  
"OOOOh. Looks like he fell for her, too, eh, Haiden?" Lance asked while nudging him.  
  
"Oh get over yourself, Lance. It wasn't even funny to begin with."  
  
"That's what you say." Logan put in.  
  
Lucifer snorted and placed one hand against the wall of the pit. The air around him crackled and with a muffled explosion, a ladder appeared in the wall.  
  
"Nice… Can you teach me how to do that?"  
  
"The Fates have delivered you to us?"  
  
"The Fates can go the Hell for all I care. They aren't good for anything else."  
  
Lucifer and Delvya glared at each other while the mutants climbed the ladder. Then he smiled and broke eye contact. "I'll leave this open, just in case."  
  
Delvya watched them leave with the gold of the sunlight painted across their backs. Then she shook her head and returned to the caves. One could not escape the Fates. It was best not to try.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N  
  
Sorry it took so long. Life happened, I guess. Now for my extremely belated and now very long Thank You note... (oh boy) Stars are for repeat reviewers, basically you get a star for every RR you send me. Just to let you know I read fan mail. ~preens~  
  
Chrissie- wow, Chapter two was so long ago... just incase you're still reading, thank you, you were my very first reviewer.   
  
Jayman- Dude, yo! I like Evan too. I didn't know he'd become such an important character, but I guess this story is all about him isn't it... (Note- extra coolness factor here, Jayman's a repeat reviewer (****)  
  
Tomoyo714- ~Insert evil laugh~ Everyone's dying to know what happens. (Yes, I have issues with decent jokes. They make me break out)  
  
Sniper67- I can't spell either. That's why I almost failed English. And because my teacher said I had no imagination. Go figure. My mom says I'm too imaginative. (Another repeater! (****)  
  
Ziptango- Hello again, have we met? Just kidding, yo. I really hope all's well. (My number one fan ~and that's something when it reaches 100 degrees in the shade~ Donatello's cool though ;)  
  
Acetoorion- Dude, you have no idea how long it took me to realize how to break your name down, I felt like the world biggest idiot, but that's nothing new. I revised the chapter, I'm posting it along with this, don't worry, Storm's phobia will kick in later (Repeater!! (****) 


	30. Chapter 30

~~ Todd ~~  
  
It was good to have Lance back, even if he was a tad bit... well...  
  
"HOLY MOTHER OF CHRIST!! I KNEW YOU X-GEEKS KICKED ASS, BUT DAMN!"  
  
"Oh boy." Todd muttered as Lance literally rolled on the floor laughing. The source of his mirth...  
  
"VALZI-WHAT? ITS LIKE A GIANT DEMONIC POKEMON!"  
  
"I hate it when he stays up for too long."  
  
"He'll make a pretty decent distraction if you have a plan." Logan murmured to Todd. He didn't look phased at all by the uniform. Maybe the fellow Canadian had suspected all along.  
  
"Of course I have a plan." Todd said more to himself than Logan. He didn't really, but figured that everyone already knew that.  
  
"We need you. Now's not the time to go blank." Storm reminded him.  
  
It wasn't like h didn't know. Of course he knew, but how long had it been since he had time to sleep? Or eat, or think? Well, no one had since this mess started, but really, strategizing was never his best point. And Todd thought... well, to be perfectly honest, slowly.   
  
"Hey, Todd." He looked to his right and saw Pietro with a smug look on his face. "We can't let these X-Geeks show us up, can we?"  
  
Why is it still X-Men versus Brotherhood? You'd think we'd get over it by now, Todd thought, but smiled back. "Well, there is one thing I can think of..."  
  
"Let's hear it." Logan growled as Valzinameku stretched an arm towards Lance.  
  
"You won't like it." Todd said as an earthquake sent the monster tumbling. He couldn't help but grin at Lance's catcalling to the demon. It really did look funny.  
  
"You're the boss, remember..."  
  
"Okay. You see that truck there, get in it."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just do it, all of you. I need complete cooperation for this to work. Remy, Lucifer, Haiden- you stay here."  
  
"What ab-"  
  
"Go Pietro. I mean it."  
  
"You're gon-"  
  
"You trust me right? We aren't running away. Get in the truck."  
  
The ground shook again. "Why?"  
  
"Get Lance and go, all of you. Things will go downhill fast from here if you don't."  
  
Pietro's shoulders sagged. "If you promise you'll come back, and that we aren't running away."  
  
"You know I don't make promises, 'Tro. We're just gonna ambush him, I need you all in one place and mobile. You know, that kinda stuff. It hurt coming up with this plan, yo. Don't ruin it."  
  
Pietro sighed, already sensing Todd's duplicity. Nevertheless, he gathered what remained of his energy and swept across the battleground to collect Lance.  
  
Todd watched as the silver blur cut across the bloody and geographically devastated hill. Within a few seconds, the only people left were Remy, Lucifer, Haiden and himself. And Valzinameku.  
  
"Remy. Get them outta here. Don't look back, don't take your foot off the gas unless it's to avoid hitting a little old lady, got that?"  
  
"I thought-"  
  
"Don't think. Don't. They'll haunt you 'til the end of your days if you do." Todd whispered, not seeing the challenge before them, but ghosts of days past.  
  
The four stood in silence, as though to apologize to those who had lost their lives so far, to apologize for shaming their memory with such a cowardly end to the fight.  
  
Without another word, Remy turned and ran to the covered truck. It glimmered silver for a second as Todd cast a simple spell that's purpose was not so much to keep enemies out as to keep the people within where they were.  
  
"It'll dissolve later." Todd answered Haiden's unasked question.  
  
"Last stand?"  
  
"Yeah. I know a spell that'll drain all the magic from this spot to about 200 feet in all directions. It takes a while to set up, and I need someone to spot me in case my magic runs dry. Lucifer, you held your own against that thing before, think you can do it again?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Will this kill you?"  
  
"No. I will probably loose my wings, but it is a small price to pay."  
  
"Alright. Haiden, front and center."  
  
Lucifer took off with a flurry of wings, changing into his rougher, more battle-ready form. Haiden knelt beside Todd and gathered all the magic he could to channel to Todd.  
  
"Okay. Last ditch effort. Never had to use this before. Hope it works." Todd muttered, trying to calm himself down. In his mind, he saw a dam, a visual representation of a power that simply could not be seen. "There's not enough between the two of us." he said as he peered into the stagnant pool of water that barely filled the bottom half of the dam.  
  
"This is all I have. I used most of it trying to keep us alive down there."  
  
"Alright. There's another way." Todd slid his hand off Haiden's shoulder and took a few steps away from him. With a thought, Todd summoned a knife. "I really hate this part." he whimpered as he sliced the length of his arm from the crook of his elbow to his wrist on both arms. The air around him became so thick Haiden had to stumble away a few feet just to breathe. Todd didn't notice. He was waiting to reach his desperation limit- the limit that all Mages had as a backup in case they ran into a Mage more powerful than they. To break that limit required a blood sacrifice, usually one's own blood was needed. It gave the Mage a temporary boost of Magic. In it's simplest definition, for a Mage to break the desperation limit was like a human calling upon their last bit of adrenaline. The after effects were just as crippling.  
  
Todd watched the dam fill. 'Sorry, 'Tro. I might not make it.' he forced the magic through his hands and concentrated it so thickly that waves formed around them like heat waves on a dark colored car. With a grimace that truly understated the difficulty of the spell, Todd forced all the magic into a doorway. The small silver ball hung in the air, no bigger than a ping pong ball, completely innocent looking.  
  
Todd fell to his knees, all the light gone from his eyes and settled on his haunches.  
  
Above him, the silver ball began to spin.  
  
~~ Haiden ~~  
  
There was an awful moment when he realized that he was completely helpless without his magic, but he pushed it aside and scurried to Todd's side. Before he got there, he heard a truly heartrending scream. Haiden turned around to see Lucifer dive bomb Valzinameku. Perhaps the creature had learned from all the previous times it had been attacked from above, or maybe in his exhaustion, Lucifer's aim was off. Either way, Haiden couldn't help crying out as Valzinameku stopped Lucifer cold by catching him 'round the waist as the Vulgate dropped from the sky. Even though his body went from several hundred miles an hour to dead zero, Lucifer's insides kept going. Just like a long water balloon thrown against a brick wall, the top of Lucifer's head burst and showered the ground beneath with a spray of gore.  
  
Valzinameku dropped the carcass just as the little silver sphere began to spin.  
  
Haiden watched as Lucifer's wings stretched and then were unceremoniously ripped from his corpse as the magic-draining spell began.  
  
"T-Todd. We need to go now. Todd." Haiden gently shook Todd's shoulder and scrambled to catch him as the green-clad mutant keeled over, lifeless.  
  
Haiden looked back at Valzinameku, who disregarded the sphere. It apparently had no effect on him at all.  
  
"But that means..."  
  
Haiden couldn't finish because all the air was knocked from his lungs and the world flew past in a flash of demented color.  
  
Right before he passed out, Haiden felt something fall on his cheek. Water? Salt water? 


	31. Chapter 31

~~ Pietro ~~  
  
It was just too much to bear. Todd was gone. How could he die? After all he had been through, how could something like this kill him? Why couldn't I have died with him?  
  
Pietro leaned Haiden against a big rock and waited for him to awaken. As he waited, he thought. Random thoughts, none of them had anything to do with anything, but they helped pass the time.  
  
When the ground began to shake, Pietro didn't even look up. It was a rhythmic pounding on the earth- definitely not Lance.  
  
"Of course you followed me." Pietro said out loud, even though he doubted Valzinameku could hear him, or understand him for that matter. Todd's spell hadn't worked. That meant only one thing. Valzinameku wasn't the result of anything dealing with magic. The only people who could have killed Valzinameku were dead because they assumed that the thing was what it looked like, a demon.  
  
Valzinameku stopped a mere three feet way from Pietro and Haiden. The speed demon looked up into the cavernous jaws of the true demon. "Okay. It's not like I care." Pietro said and waited for the monster to kill him.  
  
So far Valzinameku had only killed with force, either crushing, battering or swallowing them whole. Pietro expected to be flattened with one of the demon's many arms, but the last thing he expected was to be suffocated with smoke. In fact...  
  
"Verflixt und zugenaht," a low voice muttered. "Vhy didn't you move?"  
  
"What? Kurt?! What the Hell?"  
  
"Ja. I hurt everyvere. How 'bout you?"  
  
"Todd's dead."  
  
"I'm sorry, but now isn't ze time. Ve'll vorry about zat later. Right now ve need zomeplace to hide."  
  
"What about that hole that Lance made, the big one by the fort."  
  
"Zehr gut." More smoke filled Pietro's awareness and suddenly he felt lightheaded. "Stay here."   
  
It wasn't like Pietro had a choice in the matter. He was surrounded by darkness, and if anything was true, Pietro did not like being in the dark- be it in familiar territory or otherwise.  
  
"Kurt! This isn't funny." He whispered in a harsh voice, desperately fighting panic. "Kurt!" There was a sound to Pietro's left and a soft hissing sound. Pietro stumbled backwards and fell. The sound grew louder. Pietro, frightened beyond all reasonable thought turned and scrambled to his feet. He ran, not bothering to be cautious about which direction he was headed in or what he would do when he ran out of space to run. Something was there in the darkness and it was coming for him.  
  
~~ Kurt ~~  
  
When he returned from collecting Haiden and Todd, Pietro was gone. Kurt didn't think much of it. He assumed his contact had picked him up already. Kurt carefully set the two Mage-mutants down and settled in for a lengthy wait. He was, to say the least, surprised when his contact tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"Ah, zere you are. You are early, no?"  
  
"Late." he said simply.  
  
"So vhere is Pietro?"  
  
"Gone."  
  
"Vhat?"  
  
"Gone. Skyza tracks."  
  
"Skyza?"  
  
"Demon worm. Hell to meet with. Hell to fight. Friend is gone. The Fates' will."  
  
"The Fates' will? Fine. Take zese two back. I'll look for Pietro. Ze Fates may have other plans."  
  
"As you say. Without you, no point."  
  
Kurt's golden eyes reflected the faint glimmer of light from afar. "I don't believe zat, and neither do you. You shouldn't say things you don't mean viz all your heart. Pietro and I vill see you at ze main camp." With that, Kurt Wagner faded further into the blackness.  
  
The Vulgate looked down at the two humans left in his care. "Perhaps the Fates that govern your kind are more generous than mine. I simply cannot understand why else they would allow you to upset the system so." He tucked a mutant under each arm and spread his wings. With a graceful running start, he flew close to the ground, not realizing that he carried Earth's last hope to almost certain death.  
  
Of course, even if he had known, the Fates would allow no intervention on his part. Gods are picky like that.  
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
Evan was lying on his bed, trying to get a little bit of sleep since the military wasn't letting him go anywhere. He was also trying very hard not to think about the last three days. It really wasn't hard, despite the fact that nothing was the way it was supposed to be. Evan just decided he didn't want to think about anything, and he didn't. The problem was that when he fell asleep, the thoughts came anyway.  
  
"Evan? I'm scared." Melissa Birch stuck her head through Evan's door. At five years old, she had been abandoned because she was a mutant. Her power was control over plants, though it was often confused with Kitty's power since Melissa disregarded doors by shifting the wood so that she could walk straight through them.  
  
"What for?" Evan said and gestured for her to fully enter the room.  
  
"Everyone's gone."  
  
"Where? To school? I thought we had the day off."  
  
"I'm not stupid, Evan, and I'm not a baby."  
  
"You're right. You're eight years old. By the time I was your age I was... well, I learned how to skateboard."  
  
"Evan. It isn't funny. What's going on?"  
  
"I don't really know." He rubbed his arm where the open wound had been and marveled at the smoothness of his skin. "I'm bored. You guys wanna play a game?"  
  
"Are you kidding?"  
  
"No. I'm bored. We can't leave, so we might as well do something interesting. What do you say?"  
  
"Well, okay." Melissa's brow crinkled as she tried to decide whether or not Evan was making fun of her. When he stood and opened the door and looked expectantly at her, she took him literally and ran to gather the rest of the mutants.  
  
Evan followed a bit more slowly. ~Someone~ had to act like the responsible adult.  
  
Within an hour, though, the remaining ten mutants of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters were thoroughly immersed in a game of Mutant Tag. The officers on duty stood in shock (or in some cases- laughed themselves to death) as Evan chased the younger kids in circles only to have them dissipate into smoke when he got near them.  
  
"That isn't fair, Marcus! You can't use your powers to help other people!" Evan wailed.  
  
"But the Professor said these games are to build stamina, strength and teamwork."  
  
"He was joking! Since when do you take the Professor seriously anyway?"  
  
"Since I figured out that you can't catch us if we work together!" The younger mutants laughed.  
  
"Besides, you can always tag Jamie. It's not like he's all that fast."  
  
Everyone but Jamie glared at Melissa. Ever since the last time they played Tag with Jamie, they had avoided tagging him. It was just too unfair, since he would split into five or six clones and literally gang up on people. There was no point in tagging him since he was 'it' for only as long as it took him to create a few clones.  
  
"I want to play something else." Jamie said. "This game is too easy."  
  
Evan moaned. After an hour of running, he wasn't prone to agree with Multiple. Evan never really understood why they always played in teams before, but now that he had been pitted against the 'weaker' half of the X-Men, it was all to clear to him.  
  
"Fine. What?"  
  
"I don't know. The electricity is out so we can't play video games."  
  
Evan sighed. "You're right. This place is boring without at least Bobby around. Even Scott would make things more interesting."  
  
"What's that?" Melissa asked as she pointed at something in the distance.  
  
Everyone turned to stare at the dark, hulking shadow that was plowing its way through the city.  
  
"Maybe its a trick of the light." Evan said. He couldn't take his eyes off of the thing. "Go inside. I'll go see."  
  
That prompted a chorus of objections and not only from the mutants.  
  
"Hey, I'm just gonna look. Nothing else." Evan protested even as he ran towards the town. Without breaking his stride, he scooped his skateboard up from behind a bush and waved.  
  
The trip was shorter than he had thought it would be, mainly because he hadn't factored in how fast the thing was moving. Evan crouched in an alley waiting for it to walk past to he could catch a glimpse of it. Evan waited and waited for the thing to walk past, but it never did. He finally got bored and peeked out of his alley. Upon seeing nothing, he ventured further out.  
  
Nothing.  
  
Laughing at himself for actually believing the big shape was anything more than a trick of light, Evan turned around to get his board.  
  
"Holy mother of-"  
  
~~ Remy ~~  
  
"I don't tink we should go back."  
  
"I don't think you're thinking. How are we supposed to just leave them there?" The sky darkened and the clouds swirled ominously as Storm barely held her anger and frustration in check.  
  
"They meant for us to get reinforcements. We couldn't beat that thing. We aren't in any condition to go back. We have to get back to our be-"  
  
"Enough. This is real life, Bobby. Thee isn't time for that nonsense."  
  
"Why don't you just shut up? You're so damn stupid. Listen to yourself! How many people have died fighting this thing? We're all this planet has left. We need to regroup and recuperate. There's no beating this thing at anything less than full power. If a million people have to die in that time, it's better than us dieing now."  
  
"Watch your mouth, kid." Logan threatened Lance.  
  
"Why don't you do something other than threaten people? It's all good and well that you have that damn healing factor of yours. You're the X-Men for crying out loud. There's dozens of you. It's Freddy and Magneto are gone, Todd and Pietro are on a suicide mission so you guys can pull yourselves together and pick up the slack. And you wanna go back and screw us all up the ass. I won't let you do it. I won't." Lance swiped a sleeve across his face.  
  
"Let's think about this. Logically." Kitty pleaded. "I'm not even sure just what's been going on."  
  
"Who is? The only people who knew are down there, fighting, dying. Who knows?"  
  
"So let's go over what we know. Maybe we'll think of something." Kitty looked around at the others, but no one said a thing. "So, this all started when Magneto came over to the Institute and said that Kurt and Pietro were traitors."  
  
"No, remember, Evan was acting strange, and walked out on the Professor. Then Magneto came over." Bobby interrupted.  
  
"Okay, so Logan caught them in Evan and Kurt's room and dragged Pietro and Kurt downstairs. They left and Logan said something about Phoenix..."  
  
"They weren't spies. Evan got hold of some papers about Phoenix and how she was part of an illegal experiment. He was turning them in I guess. He used Pietro to get them and Kurt as a quick escape."  
  
"You know, that day before Evan and Phoenix got in that fight, didn't Kurt drag Evan to introduce themselves. And on the day of the fight, Pietro actually came up and said something to Evan and Kurt. Kurt just about died right there." Jean said slowly.   
  
"So, this goes back further? Or is this another story that has nothing to do with anything?" Logan cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on the boys.  
  
"I think it's all related. Pietro dumped Phoenix on us because she creeped him out."  
  
"Yeah well, Pietro told me that there was a lot of crap that followed her. People dying and disappearing. And I think he mentioned some weird stuff, like, well. Now that I think about it, it's stupid. More like... a horror story."  
  
"Let's hear it."  
  
"Well, he said that when she moved, she set fire to a wall of her new house. And she would sit there for hours staring at that burnt spot. One day she refused to move from there. Just stared all day long. And that same day, her school blew up. There were about 2,000 people inside. Then she went all funny, painting the walls of her brother and sister's rooms with blood."  
  
"Blood?"  
  
"Yeah, that's what he said. And Phoenix kept staring at that spot. One day her mom just disappeared. The kids went to a foster home. The people they stayed with had a son. He kept bothering the little sister and then he went missing and then she went missing. I think they found her dead some where. In the foundation of a building that was being laid. And then Phoenix's little brother died of some disease. After that, Phoenix went to DJJ and then a crazy house and that's when we met her."  
  
"In between she met a detective. Got attached to him... and then he committed suicide."  
  
"Ouch. Surreal. So. Assuming all that happened and Evan found out something about an experiment, why would-"  
  
"The Masters.... she kept saying stuff about the Masters."  
  
"So she thought-"  
  
"She didn't think anything. The people who experimented on her were still around. They found out that Evan knew what they had done, so they told her to kill him." Logan interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, that would explain the fight at school."  
  
"At school? Evan fought at school?"  
  
"Uh, well."  
  
"And she lost. Evan totally won that fight."  
  
"So..." Logan leaned on the door of the truck. "Everything's beginning to click with Phoenix. She was brainwashed and experimented on. The people behind the whole thing sent her to kill Evan because he knew, but when she failed to kill him directly, she told on us so that he'd be out of the way."  
  
"When we escaped, those plans went bad. I'm thinking that whoever experimented on Phoenix also experimented on someone else. That's where Valzinameku comes from." he concluded.  
  
"Doesn't add up." Remy said. "Dat don't explain why Todd went all funny too. Assumin' Lucifer be a mutant, Where'd Haiden come from? And de ladies say dey saw a cave full o' bits 'n pieces o' mutants lahk Lucifer. Where's all dat comin' from? Ah agree wit' da firs' part, but the bit wit' Valzinameku bein' a mutant don't sit well wit' me."  
  
"Me either." Jean agreed. "That thing... feels too old to be a mutant."  
  
"What do you two think?" Storm asked the General and Mystique. They had sat silently through the whole thing.  
  
"I think that if Pietro told you something it was the most accurate information you could get without talking to the people themselves. I also think that it would take Evan, Phoenix, Kurt or Pietro to explain how she fits in all o this. Remember, Valzinameku wasn't introduced until Pietro and Kurt helped Storm, Kitty and myself escape the fort. We hid in the woods until the government showed up. Then we ran for the old skatepark. Pietro was leading us to a hideout there, but we had to turn back because we needed Freddy to help us across some places and he was gone. Pietro said that it was too dangerous because the slightest misstep could be the death of us."  
  
"Yeah, we found that place a while back. I have no idea how we made it the first time, but I had the bright idea to put glow in the dark paint on my shoes so we could find our way back. There's a whole city down there. With food and a generator and everything."  
  
Mystique nodded. "We saw the footprints. As Pietro was coming back up the ladder, the ground shook and he missed the rung he was supposed to grab. He fell and we... ran. But the ground opened beneath us and Valzinameku caught us. He had Pietro too, and Lucifer in a cage made of bones. We told you the rest."  
  
"But how does Valzinameku tie in with Phoenix? Is there a connection?"  
  
Kitty gasped. "We're so stupid. This whole time we've been thinking about Valzinameku as a thing, an animal. But he thinks. He sent Pietro to spread the news of his coming. Think about it. If you were a powerful creature, person, like he is, wouldn't you want a body that was suitable to your power? I mean, it takes more energy and time for Freddy to move than it does for Lance, because even if Freddy is stronger, Lance is faster and he doesn't have to spend half as much time eating to have enough energy to use his strength. If Valzinameku can use magic, don't you think he would want a body that was smaller? That way he could have his mental strength and the mobility of the smaller body. A mutant could do that. The professor, he couldn't keep his mind in someone else's body, but his thoughts... it all depends on the magic." Kitty looked around to see if anyone agreed. "Well. I mean, you know... if magic is all in your head... you are what you think you are. I mean. What if Valzinameku's shape is like... what his magic looks like?" Kitty gave a frustrated sigh. "Todd's magic is subtle. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it. Maybe that's why he looks like a nobody. Because his magic-"  
  
"Yes. That makes sense. When he was Slay, he was known for sneaking right under his prey's nose. That's why he never needed to use his powers and no one knew he was a mutant until he retired." Logan began to seriously think about what Kitty was saying.  
  
"Yeah. That's it, I guess. So, Valzinameku looks the way he does because that's the way he sees himself with the magic. Powerful. Invincible. Death walking. He didn't want that. Death is a ponderous thing that claims us all eventually, but not as quickly as he would like. And you can escape death any number of times to score points for life."  
  
"Interesting. Now we know why he's so ugly."  
  
"But he isn't. Not really. He's scary, but not ugly. Its hard to explain."  
  
"Then don't."  
  
"The point is," Kitty elected to ignore Bobby. "A phoenix is a mythical bird that bursts into flames when it dies. It's born again from the ashes. If you steal a feather from it, you'll be cursed for the rest of your life, but if it gives a feather to you, you'll be blessed."  
  
"So? Stop babbling and get to the point."  
  
"That IS the point. This is all about Phoenix. She's given Evan the feather and died. She'll come back, Evan has her blessings. We'll win just because of that. This whole fight is about old myths. Fallen angels, demon's on earth, its a chance for all the things that might have been to actually happen."  
  
"But there's something wrong with that theory." A voice behind them said. Everyone turned to face the shadows where it came from.  
  
"Evan!"  
  
"No. I'm afraid not. You see, you were so close, except for one minor detail. The Phoenix you know is really an imposter. Haiden Malcolm is the true Phoenix. He gave the mystic feather to his sister. She gave it Evan. I stole his body and indirectly control the feather. Isn't it beautiful the way things work out?" 


	32. Chapter 32

~~ Pietro ~~  
  
"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod." Pietro's breath came in quick gasps that had nothing to do with the fact that he had just stopped running. The infamous end of the line had been reached. There was no where else for the speed demon to run. Tears poured down his face as a chorus of hisses neared him. His eyes searched the darkness for at least a glimpse of his doom, but he saw nothing but uniform darkness and monsters created by his hyperactive imagination.  
  
Maybe that's all it is. My imagination. That's it 'Tro. You're getting away with yourself.   
  
Pietro jumped backwards and twisted to the left as something inside him called a warning to his muscles. Pietro's heart stopped as something far to close for comfort gave a sharp and definite snap. He stood stock still as a hissing filled his ears once more.  
  
Lightheaded, Pietro tottered, nearly falling. As he swayed backwards, there was another snap- a sound he could identify even through his fear as the snapping of a predator's jaws. The sound startled him back to his senses, if only for a second. Pietro straightened and accidentally hit the thing that hadn't moved since it snapped at him. Pietro listened as it went sprawling and the air filled with indignant clicks. He tentatively put a hand to his forehead, which had taken the brunt of the hit. More than ever, he felt like fainting.  
  
Hisses, mixed with the angry clicks, echoed in the darkness and became amplified by Pietro's panic.  
  
"This isn't the way it's supposed to end." He whispered. "Not here. Not now. I was supposed to die with Todd, not alone. Not in the dark." Pietro's legs gave way beneath him, but he was so deeply buried in his fear that he didn't notice. "Old age. You said we'd all die of old age... in the country with our wives... and kids beside us. I can't die here... Please..." Pietro knelt there, surrounded by the invisible, hissing predators. "Todd..."  
  
~~ Kurt ~~  
  
"Zis is impossible. Vhere could he be?" Kurt muttered to himself. Of course he knew that Pietro could be anywhere, what with his speed and the pure vastness of the caves. And there was always the possibility... "No. It is not a possibility and if you don't stop scaring yourself, you'll panic- and zen vere vill ve be? Lost. Zat's vere." Kurt continued to talk to himself, even as he lost his sight to the darkness. "Poor Pietro. How am I zuposed to find him if I can't see? I'm ~zuposed~ to be able to see in zee dark... he's not..."  
  
Kurt's sharp ears picked up a soft hissing. "Hello? You're not playing games on me, are you, Pietro? Pietro?" Kurt took a step back and angled so that he could catch the last bit of available light. There was a sharp snapping noise beside him and he looked back into the pitch black. He saw nothing, but the hissing began again. Kurt smiled. If Pietro thought he was so funny, then there was no reason that Kurt couldn't play a trick or two.  
  
He began softly hissing back, carefully tracking the direction the other noise came from and doubling back on it.  
  
When he was within striking distance, Kurt slipped his tail around Pietro's waist and squeezed.  
  
"Vas?" Kurt exclaimed as his tail curled around what should have been Pietro's waist but was much too thin and smooth.  
  
Click, clickclick.... clickclick.  
  
"Ohoh." Kurt squeezed tighter and hoped that he would strangle the thing before it attacked. His chances were slim, but Kurt made it a point never to think that far ahead.  
  
"N-" Snap.  
  
~~ Logan ~~  
  
"You got a lot of nerve coming here like this."  
  
"Actually, it required very little. After seeing you all attack me while I held that putrescent girl, I realized that you would not hesitate to attack me unless I made myself invaluable to you. That the so-called Phoenix gave her life to one of your comrades... it only made things easier for me. You know as well as we do that you would never attack one of your own and would not allow anyone else to either."  
  
Logan stared hard at the skinny black kid in front of him. Yeah, it looked like Evan, but that voice... Evan didn't speak that eloquently and he didn't have the guts to pull a stunt like this. Logan doubted that Valzinameku would listen to reason, or even threats, but he gave it a shot anyway.  
  
"Kids, cover your ears. Now look here you ugly ass punk shiteater, if you harm a single hair on that boys head I'm gonna string you guts up from the Statue of Liberty and use your balls for batting practice."  
  
"You really think you can? I have no material shape except this boy's body. Could you bring yourself to harm him?" A massive spike formed in Evan's hand. "Could you bring yourself to allow any harm to come to him at all?"  
  
"Whoa, whoa...buddy. There's no need to go there." General Matthias blocked Wolverine from charging. "Surely we can negotiate some terms."  
  
"Negotiate? There is no need. I just wanted to see the looks on your faces when you realized that you failed. It truly is rewarding. If you don't mind, I have a world to terrorize." He bowed and smiled as though he had just conquered the world.  
  
Which was exactly what he had done.  
  
'Why am I hesitating? SO many people will die because of this... But. I can't. I can't do it.'  
  
Beside him, Lance growled.  
  
"I can't." The mutant known as Weapon X whispered. For the first time in years, Logan regretted changing his lifestyle so much.  
  
The old Wolverine wouldn't have hesitated.  
  
The new Wolverine wept.  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
As he stood watching the strongest man he knew break down, Bobby suddenly realized just how bad the situation really was.  
  
They were all going to die knowing that they were worthless pieces of shit who couldn't sacrifice a friend to save the planet.  
  
"I wish Todd was here. He'd know what to do."  
  
"But he's gone too. Everyone else is gone and we're not strong enough. They all stood there, willing themselves to simply cease existing as a trail of bright flashes sparked through Bayville.  
  
"Dere goes da' neighborhood." Remy said casually. "What now?"  
  
Everyone turned expectantly towards General Matthias.  
  
"Now. Now we go to protect the President. That thing is headed straight towards him."  
  
~~ Outside Fort Braddock ~~  
  
"Guys. Wait. I'm coming. Professor." The tall man fell to his knees sobbing. "I'm coming. Just wait." He fell flat on the ground. Other than to breathe, he was still, until finally even that movement appeared to stop. 


	33. Chapter 33

~~ Beneath Fort Braddock ~~  
  
"Hey, what's that?" A thin copper haired boy stared into the darkness, eyes that had seen nothing but dark picking up the faint glimmerings of something in the distance.  
  
"Let's check it out." His blonde friend said while peeking behind them to where their guardians spoke in hushed tones nearby.  
  
The first boy looked back as well, more to note just how long the two of them had before the adults realized that they were missing. Seeing the beginnings of an argument, he nodded to his friend and with a mischievous look, they took off.  
  
The great philosophers say that time is a manmade thing. What is time to a people who have not seen light as we have in, as we would reckon it, an eternity?  
  
That is why two days later, the boys were still running, chasing the ever elusive shadow in the distance.  
  
"I can see it better now, but why haven't we reached it?"  
  
"The old masters say that the best treasures are the hardest to obtain."  
  
"Oh, don't act so righteous, Glive. You know as well as I do that they meant knowledge."  
  
"Ooooh. A big word."  
  
So it seems that sarcasm is not limited to one race only.  
  
"This would go faster if we flew."  
  
"You know I can't fly this low."  
  
"SO we'll go higher up."  
  
"But we can't see how low the caves are."  
  
"There's plenty. The Mikzorn (Mick- zorn) aren't here and you know how those little creepycrawlers are. They're everywhere except open places. Let's go."  
  
Glive, the so-called righteous one, sighed. "Fine." They spread their wings and smoothly went from running to flying.  
  
A short while later, they landed.  
  
"That wasn't so bad. This is a good stretch to practice on."  
  
"Can you focus on what we have here? Honestly."   
  
They stood in silence and admired the fallen rocks.  
  
"It's a cave in."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Glive..."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go up there."  
  
"Is that safe?"  
  
"You gone Vitrole on me?"(Vit-role_a chicken like creature that runs from everything  
  
"Of course not, I'm being practical. Don't look at me like that! I mean it. Besides, it doesn't feel right. It's too... I dunno."  
  
"Let's go see. What's the worst that could happen to both of us?"  
  
"Don't make me say it, Glive. You're the one who's always quoting the masters."  
  
"C'mon Zieet." (ZI- eat) Glive tentatively climbed the rocks and stepped into the odd circle shaped hole. "Look. It's not even a real hole, you Skyza-waste."  
  
"Hey, I am not!" Zieet scurried up the rocks to stand with his friend. "What's that?"  
  
The two boys peered up while shading their eyes. They dropped their eyes to stare into each other's faces, slow grins spreading in their faces. Without another word, they jumped into the air, wings pumping hard as both tried to be the first to the top.  
  
"FIRST!!!" They cried in unison, spinning wildly and heading in separate directions, only to double back and land on the ground.  
  
"Whoa! Ouch." Glive muttered as he slipped on the dew-covered grass. "What is this stuff?"  
  
"Hey, guess what I found."  
  
"Is it dead?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Alright! I wanna see." They shoved each other out of the way to peer at the dead thing laying in the grass.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Wow. It's like we found a whole new world up here."  
  
"We could rake up if we built a Shortcut here and charged people to see the new world..." Zieet gave a devilish grin.  
  
"It moved." Glive said, springing backwards.  
  
"No it didn't. See." He poked the thing.  
  
"Wait for me." came a ghastly voice. "Please. I can fix it."  
  
"Told you so." Glive said. Nevertheless, the two Vulgates inched closer to observe their wounded 'thing'.  
  
"What are we gonna call it?"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Let's ask the masters."  
  
"Will you ever just give that a rest? Everything's about them with you!"  
  
"Kurt. Evan. Where?" the thing shook miserably.  
  
"Kurt? Isn't that what the grownups call Goldeneyes?"  
  
"Alright. Help me get it back through the portal."  
  
"The what?"  
  
"The interdimensional portal, you idiot! What other portal is there?"  
  
"Oh. Okay."  
  
They gently lifted the creature and between the two of them, managed to lower it through the 'interdimensional portal' without damaging it further.  
  
"Why is it leaking?"  
  
"Because. That's its defense mechanism. It thinks we'll be scared away by the funny colored water."  
  
"But it's thi-"  
  
"Shut up. I have to concentrate. Lend a hand, will ya?"  
  
The creature continued whispering, but they tuned him out and focused on building their shortcut.  
  
Everyone knows the fastest way from point A to point B is a straight line. There are those who believe that is it faster to bring point B to oneself, but to rearrange the world requires power that many don't possess. Shortcuts are a type of merger of the beliefs. They employ the idea that straight lines are the fastest way to get anywhere and that using magic to bend those lines through dimensions where distance is measured but how long you seek to be at your destination, instead of how long you travel to your destination. The logistics are left to the scholars, but simply put, shortcuts start at point A and travel through a place where time and distance are more quickly traversed than our dimension. From there, the shortcut ends at the location specified by its creator, be it in this dimension or another.  
  
While it is easily explained in this way, it takes a great deal of magical strength and concentration to accomplish. The chances of the shortcut leading to the wrong place, or of it being intercepted, or any of a million other horrors are far too great for many who are capable to even try to build a shortcut. Only the most seasoned and confident Mages used shortcuts.  
  
"I don't think you're doing it right."  
  
"I told you to shut up. If you're so smart, you do it."  
  
"What if it doesn't work?"  
  
"Then you'll look stupid."  
  
"You're a mean brute, Zieet. Fine. I'll do it."  
  
Building a shortcut can be likened to threading a needle who's eye is only as wide as the thread. A mistake could mean the thread doesn't make it through the eye and hangs there. If luck is with you, you notice before you begin to stitch, if not, your thread is left behind and the needle is lost. Of course, there are worse things that being dumped into a void of lost souls. If you try to thread the needle and it splits, there's no telling where you'll end up, maybe on the other side, maybe lost, maybe right back where you started.  
  
"I think I have it. Who's gonna go first?"  
  
"I am of course. You aren't strong enough to carry it."  
  
"Whatever you say, Zieet."  
  
"Er. On second thought, I don't want to face the grownups alone."  
  
"I knew it!"  
  
"Let's go already."  
  
The two young Vulgates, with their new pet, stepped into the shortcut. 


	34. Chapter 34

~~ Evan ~~  
  
"Ugh. What the Hell?"  
  
"Zieet. There's another one. Should we take it back too? The grown-ups were pretty upset about the last one."  
  
"You can have this one. I want the one with the weird eyes."  
  
"Whatever. This one's got fur on top."  
  
"Hey- cut it out!" Evan pushed the phantom away.  
  
"Oh. It's alive."  
  
"Well, duh. DO I look dead to you?" Evan strained his eyes. It was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing. He squeezed his eye shut and opened them just to make sure.  
  
"C'mon. They'll start looking for us again in a little while."  
  
"They? Who's they?"  
  
"The grown-ups."  
  
"Oh."  
  
A small hand grasped Evan's. "You ready?"  
  
"For what?"  
  
"It's over."  
  
"What is? What's over?"  
  
"It doesn't matter anymore."  
  
"Hey, kid... I can't see, man. Don't just leave me here."  
  
Zieet and Glive looked at each other. "He must be blind. What good is a blind pet?" Zieet whispered.  
  
"It'll look better when I teach him to walk the tents."  
  
"Good point."  
  
"This way." Glive said in a louder voice. Evan scowled. First they thought he was dead, then blind and now deaf...  
  
"I heard that. I'm not blind. I just can't see in the dark."  
  
"Where's that?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"The Dark?"  
  
Evan sighed. "I guess I'm not the only one there either."  
  
"Glive, Zieet. Where are getting all of these humans?" A masculine voice filled with ice came from the darkness.  
  
"We found this one not far from the other, only he had already crossed the portal."  
  
"Not more of that interdimensional nonsense..."  
  
"Zieet said it was for real, and I've been through it too."  
  
The man gave a short sound to convey his disappointment. "Cover your eyes, human."  
  
"Why? It's not like I can see."  
  
"I'm summoning a light. It takes your kind a while to adjust, correct?"  
  
"Oh...Kay..." Evan closed his eyes, even though he didn't like the way the man was talking about him. When he opened his eyes a few seconds later, there was a ball of light hovering in the air in front of him. The man had dark hair that the light cast as black. The kids looked to be about twelve years old. The one closest to Evan had short reddish hair and the other had blonde hair that reached his shoulders.  
  
"Hey, you're a mutant too... Whadda ya mean by 'your kind?'"  
  
"I am a Vulgate, foolish human." The man said. He raised his arm and a very pointed and very dangerous looking sword materialized in his grasp. "You are now a prisoner of my people."  
  
"But he was supposed to be MINE!!!" Glive protested.  
  
"I'm not a pet and I'm not a prisoner. I'm just looking for my friends. A blue guy with a tail... named Kurt. Or, what about a bald guy in a wheelchair? You seen them?"  
  
"He said that guy's name too. That means he's not a prisoner." Zieet said. "Remember we're supposed to take everyone who mentions him to the main tents."  
  
"I know that. What is your name, human?"  
  
"Evan Daniels. Who'd I mention?"  
  
"And the other one mentioned ~him~. It all works out, see." Glive smiled widely.  
  
"Not quite. You still have to explain why you were out and not practicing your transformations."  
  
"Awwww. Who needs to do all that?"  
  
"Move it you two."   
  
Evan walked with them in silence, trying to figure out where he was and how he had gotten there. The dim light from the ball showed an enormous tent to their left. Evan peered at it, vaguely wondering just how big the 'main tents' would be. They walked a bit more, and just as Evan was feverently wishing for his rollerblades for the hundredth time, they reached the main tents.  
  
They weren't tents, so much as a collection of houses that had fortress built around them and covered walkways to connect them to each other.  
  
"C'mon. The other one is this way." Glive tugged him through one of the doors and down a hallway. Evan looked back and the man with the icy voice was gone, and so was his light. "Hurry. Why are you so slow?"  
  
"Because I can't see."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. I'll summon a magelight for you." The blonde kid said. There was silence for a while before he gave a frustrated sigh and the other kid started giggling. "Oh yeah? You do better then." He challenged.  
  
A light appeared in front of Evan, shining like a miniature sun. "Don't worry, Zieet. You're better at battle magic than I am, we're even." The blonde boy was comforting his friend, who had a comically tragic look on his face.  
  
"So. Are you two gonna lead the way?"  
  
"Yep." They said at the same time. The blonde definitely got over his disappointment fast. They took off down the empty hall and Evan ran after them.  
  
Why me? It wasn't enough to play tag with those kids; now I have to chase THESE kids around. Ow. My leg...  
  
They finally stopped running and Evan pleased to note that he wasn't panting like a dog. The blonde- was it Zi'eat?- put a hand to his lips in the universal gesture of silence. Then he slowly pushed a door open.  
  
"Why are you here?" A soft voice asked. The boys winced at being caught. "Who is this?"  
  
"Another pet." Zieet said, abandoning all pretense of silence.  
  
"Human, not pet." The person corrected from the shadows. "Your purpose?"  
  
Evan thought for a moment. Whoever it was sounded nice, but didn't seem to have that good a grasp of English. "Just visiting."  
  
"He says his name is Evan and he knows about Kurt." Zieet added.  
  
"Evan. Look." The stranger stepped into the light. He had a buzz-cut and silvery-white hair. He let Evan get a good look at him before he pointed to a corner of the room. "Do you know?"  
  
Evan slowly walked to the side of the bed that the man pointed at.  
  
"Scott?"  
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
He was running again, though he had no idea how he had managed it. The hissing followed at a more sedate pace, as though waiting for him to tire so that the kill would be easy. Pietro had no intention of stopping, however, and headed back the way he had come. His flight from the hissing had been a straight one that ended only because of a dead end. The only way out was the way h had come, so that was where Pietro was going. After that... he would improvise.  
  
Pietro stumbled as something strong latched onto his arm.  
  
"It's not safe out here. Shouldn't you be in your classes?"  
  
Pietro tensed.  
  
"Calm down. Look. If you promise not to skip class, I promise not to tell. Is t a deal?"  
  
Pietro shook his head, too grateful to the stranger to speak and not even registering that he had been mistaken for someone else. He just followed the man and prayed that between the two of them, they could fight off whatever else came their way.  
  
"Do you see that?" The man asked after they had walked only a short way. Pietro sensed the empty space all around him as the stranger investigated whatever he thought he had seen. "Oh great. Another one. What is it about this season that sends all you kids out here? Gimme a hand." Pietro followed his voice to where he was kneeling beside body. He managed to help lift it without much trouble.  
  
The two of them grabbed an arm and carried the body with them.  
  
"I smell sulfur." Pietro said softly, not daring to get his hopes up.   
  
"Now that you mention it, it does a little. Hey, what would you know about sulfur? It's a banned substance."  
  
Pietro ignored the question and sniffed again. It was close... "Wait, wait. Put him down for a sec." Pietro slowly lowered the body to the ground, but held onto the arm. Trembling nearly as much as before, Pietro slid his hand down the arm until his grasped the person's hand.  
  
Three fingers.  
  
It was Kurt.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N  
  
Yo, you got lucky. I'm feeling generous so I'll put two chapters up. No reason, I'm just, well, bored and I love waiting half an hour for my computer to upload this stuff... and the sooner I get this filler out of the way, the sooner I can begin my dramatic conclusion... yes, I'm afraid it's coming, slowly but surely. I like applesauce. 


	35. Chapter 35

~~ Mason ~~  
  
The little city of Mason was hardly more than a collection of buildings grouped around a railroad. Like so many towns like it, it was created to house the railroad workers who eventually had kids and decided to just stay there. Picturesque, in every meaning of the word, Mason boasted the largest building in almost one hundred miles in every direction. The inhabitants routinely forgot to mention that that building was once a great mansion of a wealthy family that was donated to the town and was also where all government business of the town took place. It was also the local inn and tavern.  
  
With the arrival of the President they both had been closed down. Needless to say, the regulars were a bit put out. They stood in doorways and watched the doors of the Mason Town hall, muttering to each other about how they hadn't voted for the crooked politician anyway.  
  
Of course security knew every word the disgruntled men said. After the arrival of the mutant, they were all on edge and thankful that everything had worked out. General Matthias hadn't called in to report in almost three hours, but his deadline ws four, so all was well.   
  
The President wasn't concerned in the slightest. He was busy playing hide and seek with his three year old daughter on the second floor of the mansion. His son, 16-year-old David, was engaged in deep conversation with the pretty young guide. His father shook his head briefly. No doubt David was more interested in the house than in the girl, though the exact opposite could be said about her. David looked a lot older than he was- maybe it was the way he carried himself.  
  
"Daddy, find me! Find me!" Janet called. She was hiding behind a statue of some old dead guy, it was one of the few places to hide at all, but her three year old mind didn't register that.   
  
"Okay, ready or not, here I come…" He was just beginning his search (the roundabout way, of course) when he heard a commotion. He looked up, decided that playtime was over and scooped his daughter up.  
  
"What's going on?" David asked one of the guards.  
  
"Intruder, now if you'll follow me…" The plain clothed guard led the family to safety with the calm efficiency of one who knows they have all angles covered. David hesitated a moment though, a black guard with golden hair… was that allowed? And wouldn't he have stood out like a sore thumb? The guard noticed him pause and turned towards him with a reassuring smile. It quickly faded as his eyes strayed from David's face to something behind him. Motivated by the recollection of hundreds of late-night murder movies, David fell to the ground and covered his head, just as a blaze of bullets seared the air. The guard didn't even flinch. He smoothed his hair with one hand and held the other up in front of himself, as if to command the bullets to stop.  
  
They did.  
  
"You would risk the life of your ruler to kill me? Then there is no reason for me to be here." David stared up at the man who he was beginning to identify as the real intruder. Every hair on the back of his neck rose as the man stared down at him.   
  
"C'mon. You don't think we're stupid or nothin' do ya?" David tore his eyes from the imposter and noticed a group of tattered looking people standing across from them.  
  
"Oh, of course not." The bullets, still suspended in mid-air suddenly flipped so that they pointed towards the group. "I take the lot of you very seriously indeed." He gave a small chuckle and the bullets sped towards the group as though they hadn't been stopped at all.  
  
One woman with flaming red hair frowned deeply and held her hands out. The bullets stopped before they got halfway towards the group.  
  
"So ya' like metal, huh? I'll give ya some." The speaker balled his fists and three blades slid neatly out of his hands. Beside him, a tall man with shades on pulled out a deck of cards and began calmly shuffling them. Yet another one of them began toying with a spear made of ice.  
  
David glanced at the intruder on one side of him and the mutants on the other. Without another thought to the matter, he scooted to the other side of the false guard and led his father and sister away. It's best to leave the singing to the professionals, and David gathered that this would be quite a concert.  
  
~~ Evan and Scott ~~  
  
"He wakes soon."  
  
"Cool. But how did he get down here to begin with?"  
  
"Boys bring. I heal. Others too."  
  
Evan followed the stranger across the room to where Haiden was lying, a pale skeleton in the scanty light. Beside him was Todd, though he looked like a fate worse than death. "Are they… okay?"  
  
"Alive."  
  
Evan looked at their thin forms and realized that the phrase was exactly what he was looking at… a fate worse than death.  
  
"How do we fix them?"  
  
"Do we?"  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"Some times, the only one who can help is the one who needs it. Without will, there is no life."  
  
Evan thought long and hard about that. "So they don't want to get better?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Why not?" Evan wondered out loud.  
  
"What is your purpose?"  
  
"My… purpose? I don't know."  
  
"My purpose to heal. When my purpose is taken, my will is as well." He looked deep into Evan's eyes, as if trying to tell if Evan was understanding even the littlest bit of it.  
  
"So they lost their purpose and then lost their will to live. Okay. So how do we fix that? What did Todd live for? Flies. Making trouble. I barely know the other guy. So we've really accomplished nothing."  
  
"I pray for lost souls. You pray for him." The man pointed back to Scott and then settled down in a chair between Todd and Haiden. Then it was as if nothing else existed to him. He didn't even look up when Zieet and Glive left rather loudly thanks to a stool that 'attacked' Zieet. Evan sat by Scott. And yeah, he prayed. 


	36. Chapter 36

~~ Todd ~~  
  
Pietro. It's funny how all I can think of is you. I never really thought about you at all. You were just someone that was there. Sure, there are memories I dwell on longer than neccessary, but this is different.   
  
I think I know why you're so afraid of dying now. It's so lonely. I never realized how lonely it can get on your own, probably because since I met you I never was alone, was I? You were always there, lurking in the shadows because you knew I'd need you later on. You knew even though I didn't. I guess I'm not really as great or powerful as the world feared, huh. I wish I knew before, then I wouldn't have sent you away. We would've died there, but at least we wouldn't have to die alone. I'm sorry. I can sense your panic now. You saw, didn't you 'Tro. You saw me make the stupidest mistake I could posibly have dreamt up. Trust me to run out of luck right when I find people who need it, who need me. I'm such a jerk.  
  
Guess who's here. Your favorite person. No, not your dad. Not Wanda either. Yeah. Evan Daniels. He's here cryin' his eyes out over us. Haiden and Scott are here too. Where is here? A nice, warm dark place, take that however you want, cause I know you will anyway. I've been thinking about my life and what it meant to me. I've come to the conclusion that I don't want to.  
  
The way I see it is, if I decide the worth of my life, then what's there left for you but to cry? Not only that, but... well. I'm tired of having all the answers. To hell with purposes and missions. If I just worry about living my life, then someone else can interpret it. I figure, if there's someone out there willing to take the time to do that for me, then I mattered to somebody. There was someone who was irrevocably changed by my existence and that was my purpose for existing. To give someone else a reason to exist. That's you, 'Tro. You can't die here. Not here, not now. Most importantly, not alone. That's why you have to trust me Pietro. Let go and I'll get you through, okay. No, this isn't goodbye. I'm not telling you to retreat. I'm saying, I fucked up. I thought I was stronger than you and all I did was try to protect you. I get it now. Without you, I'm just Todd, a nobody off the street. Trust me, Pietro. Make me a somebody, and I'll save us all.  
  
How do I know? The Fates told me so. They said I have to end this. I told them we'll handle it. Yeah. That's my half of the faith in us, 'Tro. I need yours. Thanks. We'll end it, together.  
  
~~ Pietro ~~  
  
The happy feeling that accompanied finding Kurt couldn't have lasted him through those tunnels. It didn't really. They had picked up Kurt and picked up the pace. The stranger said something was coming towards them, and while Pietro didn't get the name, he got the gyst. The problem was, Pietro was slowing them down. The dark made him think weird, and thinking weird made him do stupid things like try to run backwards without moving. The stranger thought he had been bitten by something. 'Just hang on' he kept saying. Pietro was trying, but it was harder and harder to find that happy place. After a while, it got to be too much for him to bear.  
  
"I don't think I can do this." He whispered, ears already picking up on the faint hissing in the distance.  
  
"Quitters never win." The stranger said.  
  
"And losers shouldn't hang on to people who stand a chance of winning." Pietro fell to his knees, breathing hard as he lost hold of the only sane thing he could find in this blackness.  
  
"We can do this, come on."  
  
"I'm slowing you down. Get Kurt out of here. Don't worry about me. I can't die here. I'll just... distract them. Go on. Don't make this worth nothing."  
  
"What's your name?" The stanger asked quietly.  
  
"Pietro Maximoff. Quicksilver."  
  
"Okay, Pietro. Okay." Pietro sat in silence as a great gust of wind sent sand billowing around him.  
  
"Todd? Can we go now?" he asked the darkness.  
  
Hiss. Thunk.  
  
"It's about time you got here. I've been waiting. You, my slithering little beasties, are going to take me to the surface."  
  
Hiss. Clickclick click.  
  
"Stop wiggling. I'm almost done."  
  
clickcli-  
  
"There we go. Now, to the light. We don't have much time. The fates... they're counting on us."  
  
~~ Mason ~~  
  
With a roar, Logan charged at Evan. To be honest, he had no intention of doing more than subduing him, but as he got closer, Logan realized that Valzinameku, safe within the body of the X-Men's comrade, had no intention of holding his punches. If possible, Valzinameku would kill them all.  
  
"You are a fool. Surely you know direct attacks like that are useless against me." Before Logan was halfway to the imposter, he snapped his fingers and suddenly Logan was gone. "I know better than to try to kill you. One would think you'd understand these kinds of things." Evan turned his head to the left and everyone else followed his gaze. There, in a corner of the room was a human-sized cage. The bars looked like angel's wings. "That suits you far better than it's previous occupant." Wolverine tugged at the fragile looking bars to no avail. A moment later, the only sound was the rhythmic scraping of his adamantium claws against the cage. "So. Let's get started. I've decided that you're bothering me." He turned slightly to the side and slid his left foot in front of his right. From his palm came a giant spike, more like a sword than anything.  
  
"I got this covered." Bobby said, gliding forward.  
  
"Do you really?"  
  
In answer, Bobby silently formed a row of icicles on the ceiling. Suddenly, the hall seemed to freeze. Everyone's breath misted over and those who's uniforms included short sleeves were shivering.  
  
"What is this magic?" Valzinameku hissed at Bobby.  
  
"The Iceman cometh." Wolverine smirked.  
  
And so he did. Bobby didn't run nearly as fast as Wolverine, but he didn't have to. With his subthermal control, he made a slide of ice that carried him far faster than the muscular adult. That, combined with Evan's reluctance to move in the cold, was probably the only reason Bobby survived.  
  
When Valzinameku noticed the discomfiture his stolen body was suffering, he put it down to weariness, not used to a human body yet and unable to translate human senses into his own experiences. Just as it grew unbearable, Valzinameku realized something.  
  
He couldn't use his own magic. The powers gifted to him by the body of the mortal he had stolen were of no use, since the body itself refused to operate. That meant that Valzinameku was helpless. Of course, Bobby didn't know, and probably wouldn't have cared.  
  
"Very well then." The demon said to Bobby's silence. He fell into a crouch as he prepared for Bobby's attack. He braced the spike against the floor and waited for Bobby to come within striking distance. 


	37. Chapter 37

A/N   
  
Thanks to Acetoorion, quite possibly my most loyal fan...  
  
Yo, there was some confusion about Evan... the thing is, Valzinameku thinks he's possessed Evan's body, but ~something~ saved the real Evan, dumping him in the tunnels beneath Bayville in the process. Hmm. I wonder why. You'll find out. Eventually.  
  
Never fear, I'll put an extra thinger in to explain where everyone is.  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
(Several Minutes Before)  
  
As he ran with the others he thought about what he would have to do. He had always thought Evan was cool, no pun intended- really, and wondered if he'd be able stop Valzinameku even if it meant killing Evan. The thought chilled him. Okay, it also bothered him how ice and cold were used to describe feelings like that. Bobby stayed in the background as Jean and Logan sailed through security at the Mason Mansion, a ghost that was determined not to force himself into a position where he had to make that decision. Even Kitty showed more enthusiam than Bobby.  
  
"Hey, it's alright kid. We got ya' covered." Lance muttered to him as they raced up the stairs. A man who everyone assumed was a guard had passed through just recently, and Logan said he had a bad feeling about the whole thing.  
  
"Smells like a set-up to me." He growled at Jean.  
  
"I'll stay focused." She returned.  
  
They rounded the corner just in time to see Evan turn on a dark haired guy, probably around his early 20s. Evan glanced over the guy's shoulder just as General Matthias yelled at the dark haired man to duck. Time seemed to slow for Bobby as the bullets sped from half a dozen guns and the man dropped to the ground.   
  
~ Bobby. Will you trust me?~  
  
It was Todd. But he was gone. Or was he? What had happened?  
  
~ Bobby. I need you to trust me. I need you to use your power. Freeze him. Freeze the whole city if you have to, just keep him there Bobby. Don't lose him.~  
  
"Okay." Bobby whispered.  
  
~ And Bobby. You're doing great. Evan's alright. He's with me and Scott. Haiden too. Don't worry so much.~  
  
Bobby took a deep breath and looked around.  
  
"So. Let's get started. I've decided that you're bothering me." The fake Evan gave a smug grin.  
  
"I got this covered." Bobby said stepping forward. If that wasn't really Evan, then there wasn't any reason not to fully explore the potential power of subthermal control.  
  
"Do you really?" the demon asked. Yes, thought Bobby. As a matter of fact I do.  
  
He really wished the other X-Men weren't there. He didn't want to risk hurting them. After glancing around the old Hall, he decided that he could crush Valzinameku without hurting anyone. He used his power, stretching his consciousness into the little drops of water that filled the air. Giant icicles formed on the ceiling in a ring that could fall at a moment's notice and trap the demon within a cage of ice. Of course Valzinameku didn't realize. No one did. Who looks at the ceiling of old places like that mansion? No one, because it's just a jumble of wood that's been covered with mouldy tapestries to hide it. A side effect of this silent operation was that the air around Bobby grew noticably colder. In fact, the temperature dropped almost twenty degrees- Bobby felt it.  
  
Valzinameku said something, it sounded unpleasant, but Bobby smiled- frostily.  
  
"The Iceman cometh." Logan said clearly.  
  
On your marks, get set, go. Iceman surfed a wave of ice directly towards Valzinameku. The cold made most people sluggish, and that was exactly what he was counting on as he rushed for the demon. Because Bobby's wave wasn't headed for Valzinameku. He had no intention of taking on the creature that had nearly killed Todd, who was still near God in Bobby's eyes. Bobby only needed to get the icicles, tentatively hanging from the ceiling, to drop and trap the demon in place. He could hardly go shooting beams of ice at him... Bad things happened when solids like wood and stone were frozen.  
  
Bobby sped up as Valzinameku crouched down. Was he going to jump and throw Bobby off his trajectory? Did he realize that he was all but trapped?  
  
~ Bobby, do you have him? Pietro's coming. We're both coming, Bobby.~  
  
Bobby curved the wave of ice so he sailed around and above Valzinameku. All eyes followed him up, up and then they saw it.  
  
Krack--Boom.  
  
As one, the circle of icicles fell around Valzinameku exactly as planned. The stone floor prevented him from escaping downwards and the points of the icicles made perfect bars. The widened tops all but sealed the top of the makeshift cage with only one hole in the center, just large enough for one more icicle. The problem was that he was moving too slow to duck out of the way. Bobby couldn't drop the last icicle because if it didn't kill the demon it would punch him straight through the floor and he could escape, and that wasn't a risk worth taking.  
  
"Freeze him, Bobby! Freeze him!" Pietro called from the stairwell. He was riding something like a snake with dozens of legs and pincers on the top of its head.  
  
Bobby tore his eyes away from the creature and redirected his attention to Valzinameku who had cleverly retreated under the overhang of the bar icicles. Of course, that was exactly what Bobby wanted him to do, so he dropped the center icicle and sealed the cage.  
  
"Brilliant. Never thought a X-Man would come up with a good idea." Pietro stepped off his snake-lizard thing and grinned wildly. "Couldn't have done better myself."  
  
"Pietro! Where's Todd?" Lance shook off the cold as soon as he recognized Pietro's voice.  
  
"Todd's on his way. You know how he gets."  
  
"What is that thing?"  
  
"It's reptile, that's for sure. I can barely get it to move in this cold. Well? Freeze him you idiot!"  
  
Bobby started at Pietro's tone. He had been checking out the... thing. It was pale, like a light brown color and for all the world, looked like a snake that sprouted 30 legs. Bobby counted again, just to make sure. Without looking, he cast a stream of ice towards the trapped demon. He didn't freeze, just screamed horribly and shuddered.  
  
"I don't think demons can freeze." He said as he gave the thing a poke.  
  
"It's not a demon." A hoarse voice whispered. Everyone looked up.  
  
"TODD!!!" Pietro yelled and swept him into a bear hug.  
  
"C'mon 'Tro. He's wasted. Give it a rest." Lance said, face marred with worry.  
  
"Yeah, don't wanna kill me or nothin'. I think it's just something that evolved. My spell should have weakened, if not killed it if it was a demon. Nothing happened. So it's completely organic. That thing was born like that or it mutated while it was stuck in the cavern. All this stuff about magic is nonsense. Remember, the earliest societies believed their god created them as they were. He probably thinks that all his kind look that way and he's confusing his mutant, or natural abilties as a god-gifted magic."  
  
"But we can't beat him."  
  
"Look at him. It's so simple. The cold. That reveals its weak points. Otherwise it would have run like hell by now." Todd sat on the immobile creature's back. "By the way, I think this is called a Skyza. Vicious little beasts. Or maybe not little."  
  
"So. Its vulnerable now?"  
  
"No. Freeze it completely. It'll put up a fight, but once you freeze it completely you can collect samples and cart it off somewhere. With Mr.Freeze I guess. Wonder how Batman's doing these days..."  
  
"O...kay. I'll work on that." Bobby said as Todd began rambling. "Hey, what about Wolverine?"  
  
"Leave the bastard. Don't like him anyhow." Lance muttered.  
  
A growl drifted from the far end of the hall where Logan was still trapped.  
  
"Yeah, I'm talking about you furface. You're even hair-ier than that blue freak."  
  
"Jus' wait 'til I get out, bub. I'm gonna pull a Creed and use yer hide fer a coat."  
  
"If, Mister Logan... If..."  
  
"Hey, guys, um. There's a slight problem with Todd's plan." Bobby called.  
  
"What? What did I miss?" Todd asked, suddenly alert.  
  
"Well, how about the part where he catches on fire and burns a hole through the floor?"  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
Muffled screams permeated the silence that followed.  
  
"Ah. I'm really really sorry about the floor." Bobby said to the security guard, who merely stood staring at the hole.  
  
"Let me out!!!" Logan roared. "Out! Out! Out!"   
  
"Sorry to you too, Logan, but you'll have to find your own way out." Called Bobby as he followed the other mutants out of the building.  
  
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ERRRGGG!" Logan beat on the sides of his cage, but couldn't even get them to rattle. "This sucks." 


	38. Current Standing

DEAD LIST  
  
Magneto  
  
Freddy  
  
Hank  
  
Charles  
  
(Rogue)  
  
Phoenix  
  
INJURED LIST  
  
Bobby- major lacerations  
  
OTHERS  
  
Todd-  
  
Pietro-  
  
Lance-  
  
Mystique-  
  
Haiden-  
  
Jean-  
  
Kitty-  
  
Storm-  
  
Remy-  
  
Logan-  
  
Evan-  
  
GROUPS, BY LOCATION  
  
Underground  
  
Evan  
  
Scott  
  
Kurt  
  
Haiden-  
  
Todd  
  
(Lucifer)  
  
Following Valzinameku  
  
Pietro  
  
Bobby  
  
Jean-  
  
Remy  
  
Lance  
  
Logan-  
  
Kitty-  
  
Mystique-  
  
Storm-  
  
On the Run  
  
Valzinameku  
  
NEW CHARACTERS  
  
Vulgate  
  
Zieet  
  
Glive  
  
Delvya  
  
K'vas nec Hiva  
  
K'ten nec Felin  
  
NOTE  
  
Skyza- predator, hisses and clicks as form of tracking and communication, thin, smooth skin, rather fast, dark dwellers, difficult to defeat  
  
Mikzorn- nonpredator, wormlike with tentacles used to las out at attackers, prefer closed areas where prey has little chance of fightin back, will run if the slightest sign of resistance is presented, dark dweller  
  
Vitrole- chicken like creature that is domesticated and resembles a chicken in all ways except physical appearance, looks like an elongated frog, body accordians as it moves  
  
Bradda- large predator, vicious and clever. Will sometimes ivade a camp to find food. Quadruped, covered in bone-like armour, kind of like an armoured rhino minus the horns, but with really big teeth and a tongue that extends to catch food.  
  
K' mas- Vulgate Noble  
  
K'vas- Vulgate Warrior  
  
K'ten- Vulgate Scholar-Mage  
  
nec means 'the' or 'of''  
  
Title first, then the joint, then the name and any order that the Warrior or Scholar-Mage is in. Therefore if you have a Vulgate named Marz who is a scholar-mage, order of Healer first class, you would introduce him as K'ten nec Marz, Primary Healer. The order varies based on what class the person is in. 


	39. Chapter 38

~~ Todd ~~  
  
"They're doing fine. Don't worry." Todd stretched. In reality, he didn't move at all. This place was just a mental projection, a way for him to keep up with what was going on while his body healed.  
  
"I hope so. Do you know why we're here?" a familiar voice asked. Here in this half-world, Lucifer looked different. He was… darker, it was as if his darker half had merged with the lighter one, but instead of it balancing out, the dark had taken control. His voice was a creepy drawl that reminded Todd of the narrator's voice in a million scary movies and try as he might, Todd couldn't shake the fact that here in Lucifer's domain, he lived only as long as he appeased the Vulgate.  
  
"I guess someone wants to talk to us. I've been here already. I told those damned Fates that my people will handle it, but if they keep dragging me around after them, I won't be able to organize anything."  
  
Lucifer snorted. "They care little for the affairs of mortals. They probably told you that you were their last resort…"  
  
"Nah, but they made a big deal of making it seem like that. My friends are out there. I have to help."  
  
"How noble." Lucifer sneered.  
  
A door appeared in front of them, double doors made of some dark wood that looked like it was moving. Very slowly, they opened.  
  
Lucifer and Todd looked at each other.  
  
"Ri-i-ight… Certainly have a flair for drama, don't they." Todd muttered as he entered, taking care not to get so much as a micro-millimeter in front of Lucifer. Only God knew what would happen if Lucifer thought he was competing with him. As the doors slammed shut (slowly), they found themselves in a pit the size of a football field. Along it's perimeter was a wall and perched at the top of that wall were dozens of people who's appearance ranged from majestic to surreal. They all peered down at the two mortals, many feigning boredom, but never taking their eyes away from them. There was one directly in front of them, obviously the boss, who looked grim as death itself.  
  
"These are difficult times, as I'm sure you know. Your assistance is needed in ending this conflict before it gets out of hand." Boss said, not bothering with niceties and just getting straight to the point.  
  
"So it's not out of hand yet." Todd cut in, anger permeating his tone. He felt a weird buzzing somewhere near him and shook his head to clear it so he could defend himself against the self-proclaimed Fates.  
  
"No. It is not. Valzinameku has not realized that he does not yet possess the key. This means that he is still vulnerable. He also has not yet deduced the layout of power in your world, human. He does not know how to act to cause the most damage. It is only a matter of time before he does."  
  
"You're the Fates, just do your thing and fix it so he chokes and dies on a chicken bone or something."  
  
"I fear it is not that simple. We must act through mortals. Our only power in your world is our influence on your kind."  
  
"You bothered me to tell me this? As if I couldn't have figured that out on my own?" Todd snuck a glance at Lucifer, who hadn't said a word since the door appeared. The look on his face made Todd think that Lucifer agreed with him. This meeting was a waste of time.  
  
"While you are in our domain, our power is absolute. We can make you more powerful so that you may carry out our tasks in your world. Or under normal circumstances we could. There is something about your magic that baffles us. We find that we are unable to enhance your abilities without causing more damage than is worth the alteration."  
  
"And when did you try…" Todd asked, determined not to believe any of it.  
  
"Not long ago. You are extremely resistant to alteration. We believe it has something to do with your origins."  
  
"Yeah, you could say it's in my blood." Todd returned with a wry grin. Of course the Fates didn't know about mutants. They thought it was just a different type of magic.  
  
"Indeed." Boss said, completely missing the ironic undertone in Todd's voice. "We have therefore decided that instead of passing final judgment on K'Mas nec Lucifer, we shall give him the means to assist you. His judgment shall be dependant upon his performance in your service."  
  
"You mean… you'll bring Lucifer back to life so he can help us?"  
  
"Yes." Suddenly all the Fates shifted violently. "First, you must prove yourself to us. There are gifts we may give you to enhance your body, but you must show that you are strong enough to use them."  
  
"I don't get it, can't you just tell these kinds of things? What-" a dull ache began to spread from Todd's arm to his chest. "Why the Hell call yourself the Fates if you can't tell what's fated to happen!?" Todd ignored as the ache grew steadily worse.  
  
"Nothing is fated, human. We merely direct the flow of things. We have no control over anything definite. That is for mortals to attend. Farewell human."  
  
"What-"  
  
Then there was nothing but Lucifer, Todd and the rapidly spreading ache. And the darkness. It was always there. 


	40. Chapter 39

~~ K'ten nec Felin ~~  
  
The silver haired healer was worried. It was not like his kind to worry, but that was precisely what he was doing. K'vas nec Hiva had returned from sentry duty with a child in hand. It was none other than the human who called himself Kurt. He had been badly wounded by Skyza, some of the worst creatures to find in the darkness. Hiva also brought news of another who hadn't made it.  
  
"K'vas nec Pietro. He was wounded and stayed behind so I could bring this one to safety."  
  
"Pietro? That is a name, is it?" K'mas nec Shir, haughty as ever, never forfeited a chance to mock a member of the lower classes.  
  
The human looked up from his post by the bed of one of his companions. "Did you say Pietro? Pietro Maximoff?"  
  
"Order of Quicksilver?" Hiva asked.  
  
"Huh? Quicksilver's his codename."  
  
"So he was a human?"  
  
"What? I can't understand what you're saying. What about Pietro?"  
  
Hiva looked at Felin, completely at a loss.  
  
"Look, there's no need to be like that, I know you were talking about him, I heard his name. What happened to him?" The human was staring at them, and though Felin knew he could not see them, he got the impression that the human knew exactly where everyone in the room was.  
  
"Your friend is gone." Felin said simply. He glanced at Hiva before continuing. "Skyza caught him."  
  
"Who's Skyza?"  
  
"Predators. They travel in packs and eat anyone they can find who ventures too far from the tents." Hiva answered. They all looked at the human to see how he would take the news.  
  
"Um, Mr. Healer… could you translate? I get the feeling that whoever that is understands me, but he just talking gibberish to me…"  
  
The Vulgates looked at each other. The only person who bothered to learn Human was Felin and that was only because he was Kurt's contact and guide. Even so, his Human was very limited.  
  
"Hey. I can take it. I've had more friends hurt today than I ever thought possible. Just tell me who Skyza is and where I can find him. I'll handle this."  
  
"Skyza… animals. Eat what they can." Felin said with a hint of desperation in his voice. Healers made it a point not to speak if they could help it. In the eternal darkness of the tunnels, every sense had to be used to its fullest potential. Even though all Vulgates had eyes that adapted to the dark, Healers were trained to use their ears to 'see' the condition of their patients. Heartbeat, metabolism, breathing… as a result, most Healers never spoke. It was against their natures.  
  
"Oh, you must mean someone else. Pietro moves too fast to be caught by any animal. It takes at least three X-Men to stop him, and we're a lot smarter than some dumb animal."  
  
"I don't understand this, how can we understand him?" Shir asked.  
  
Felin shrugged, but he had a vague idea. The human spoke a very twisted and coarse version of their own language. Perhaps humans once spoke Vulgate and over time, changed the language so it would be easier for them to use.  
  
"Well. He doesn't seem to know very much of what's going on, does he. Otherwise he wouldn't say such stupid things. As if humans are any match for the creatures of our world… Felin, are you not a healer? Why don't you heal these blasted humans and get them out of here? There are more important people who need your expertise than these creatures." With that disdainful comment, K'mas nec Shir impatiently tapped his foot and glared at the healer.  
  
"Not safe." Felin said softly. He had been studying the humans and discovered, much to his amazement and dismay, that they were all different. There was no way to heal them completely. Those who could be healed, didn't want to, and even Shir wouldn't make the healer waste his energy healing someone who would later get themselves skilled on purpose. The other one… there was no way he was going to touch him. When Felin had brought the two humans from Kurt, he hadn't stopped to consider just what kind of creatures he had in his care. One was a perfectly normal mage, as far as humans went, and the other was slightly deformed. However, a closer look showed that none of the so called humans in the sick room were really human. The difficult one was a high level mage mixed with something else. The physiology of it made healing almost impossible.  
  
"What do you mean, it's not safe? You're the best Healer we have, you can heal anything. Just get it over with."  
  
K'ten nec Felin looked around his infirmary. All his patients were human and he couldn't help any of them. All of his life, he had healed. Nothing was too grave or too trivial for his ministration. Then, in less than a week, he received four cases that were simply too dangerous to treat.   
  
"You don't want to touch them, huh?" Shir said, voicing his own disgust more than Felin's. "Fine. I'll get someone else to do it." He breezed out of the room.  
  
"Piece of work, huh." Hiva said lightly. They both knew exactly who Shir was going to get. His own Healer, K'ten nec Torma. She was a decent Healer, not one of the best, but the problem was that she never knew when to say no. If Shir told her to heal the humans, she would, regardless of the danger in it. To the rest of the Vulgates, a healer who endangered their patients for any reason was worse than Skyza droppings and they made it a point to let Torma know just what they thought of her.  
  
"What do you plan to do?" Hiva asked, knowing exactly what Felin would say.  
  
"Wait. If he survives," Felin looked at Todd, the problem mage. "then others will answer his call."  
  
"I hope so. Because when I lead a party above ground, we'll need guides."  
  
"You leave? With permission?"  
  
Hiva's silence spoke volumes.  
  
He was gathering a party to break free of the Fates… 


	41. Chapter 40

A/N Sorry it took so long...  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
The fake Evan moved faster than Bobby remembered the real Evan did. It was all he could do to keep him in sight, never mind catch up. It was truly a testament of Evan's constant war with Pietro. Evan worked hard to come up with new, better ways of beating Pietro at his own game and while he hadn't quite managed that feat, he had managed to leave all the others in the dark, so to speak.  
  
"We're never gonna catch him at this rate." Kitty panted from a few paces behind Bobby.  
  
"If you can talk, you ain't runnin' fast enough." Bobby tried to ignore that numb feeling that was spreading across his chest.  
  
"Easy for you to say." She returned huffily.  
  
Bobby glanced back at her. She didn't look to good. In fact, she looked sick. Bobby looked back to where Valzinameku was slowly increasing the distance between them and made a decision.  
  
"We're stopping."  
  
"What?!" Came a chorus of protests. The fear of Valzinameku getting away overrode their body's complaints.   
  
"No, we're just wearing ourselves down. We have to get our strength back and then we'll get him." Bobby slowed until he moved just barely faster than a brisk walk and the other mutants followed suit. "I can barely move, much less fight him. You guys don't seem much better off."  
  
"Good point. Hey, if the Institute is still crawling, we can always crash at my place." Pietro offered.  
  
"The Brotherhood Mansion?"  
  
"God, no. I don't claim that place. My house. I think there's room."  
  
"Then let's jack a car and go."  
  
"Isn't that illegal?" Pietro mocked the X-Man.  
  
"Not if you pay for it later."  
  
~~ K'ten nec Felin ~~  
  
He watched in silence as the fool, Torma, entered the room. His room, he had worked hard to get his own sick room, where he could heal and work in solitude and turn the world away when he grew tired of his people's bickering. Even though he earned his own room, at the order of a noble his sanctuary could be violated. It was another unspoken law that one Healer not enter the room of another unless invited. Torma didn't even acknowledge that Felin was there. She just looked around the room (his room) and sat herself on a stool (his stool) beside the first bed (with his patient!). Shir kept a close eye on Felin, though, waiting to see how he would respond to the many insults that Torma inflicted upon him. His disappointment was obvious when Felin maintained his composure and seated himself in a chair on the other side of the room to meditate.  
  
Hiva had since left to finish his sentry duty, so only the two healers and Shir were left. And the human. Felin smiled faintly as he sensed the human turn his intense, albeit blind, gaze on Torma. She ignored him for all of three heartbeats before she ordered him to leave. Of course, the human didn't understand her, but he did understand her imperious tone.  
  
"You talkin' to me lady? Cause I don't think I like you or your tone." He said in a low, amiable tone.  
  
Torma glared across the room to where Felin was sitting, facing the opposite direction. He could feel her eyes upon his back, but kept his smile and his comments to himself.  
  
"I think you should leave." The human continued. "You don't seem to know what you're doing and if you hurt any of my friends, I'm afraid I'll have to hurt you."  
  
Torma gracefully rose and stared disdainfully at the human before moving to the other side of the room. The smile quickly left Felin's face. She was going to start with the Mage.  
  
"Yeah, for now he falls under the friend category, too, so don't think you can get by with me." The human stood and carefully made his way towards Torma. He had no idea if anything was in his way and only a guess at where Torma was, so his movements were slow and indecisive.   
  
Torma ignored him and prepared the Healing spell. Felin's ears, sharpened by centuries of training and even more of experience, heard the muscles of Torma's face tighten as she cast a smug grin over her shoulder at the human. Sensing that she was casting his warnings to the wind, the human threw his own caution to the side and dove at Torma. He crashed into her a moment to late. The spell had already taken to the Mage and as they watched, began tearing him apart from the inside out.  
  
~~ Todd ~~  
  
It was as if someone had thrown him in a pressure cooker. The air closed in on Todd and it grew unbearably hot. Suddenly he wasn't in the dark, empty void anymore. It was still dark, but he could hear someone muttering in the background and there was a lingering smell of blood that made him wonder whether he was still dying or if his own healing factor had finally kicked in. It wasn't as good as Creed or Logan's, but it was enough to keep him alive in most instances, though he usually relied more on his magic to heal himself.  
  
A second evaluation led him to believe that whoever was muttering was really yelling and he was just not hearing right. Come to think of it, nothing seemed to be working right. Todd tried to move his right arm and his left lifted off the bed a little. Or was it his left that he tried to move and his right that lifted? Suddenly everything lost perspective. Was Todd really Todd or was he someone else? Was he blind? Was he a he or really a she in a he's body? Did he/she HAVE a body?  
  
That question was made very clear as he apparently got done simmering in that pressure cooker. In his mind's eye (did he have a mind's eye?) he pictured Valzinameku scooping him out of a pot with a ladle and dumping him beside a pile of arms and a side of baked skins, complete with sour cream and chives. The picture was ridiculous, really, but all thoughts of humor disappeared as the specter picked up a knife and fork and began methodically cutting little pieces of Todd off. It occurred to Todd that he might not be dreaming. That thought followed him, screaming, into a darkness that was deeper than any he had experienced before.  
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
Evan watched as Todd screamed and twisted on the hospital bed. Everything froze for a moment as a stream of blood sprouted from his arm like a fountain. The idiot woman moved closer to Todd, probably to try to heal him again, but Evan elbowed her, hard, and shoved her out of the way.  
  
In an instant, Felin was at his side with bandages and a faint light so Evan could help. As they watched, a deep cut worked it's way from just below Todd's neck to his navel. It snaked it's way down his chest and while the frightened teen watched, blood spurted from it like a blood rose coming into full bloom. Evan looked up into the Healer's eyes and didn't see the slightest emotion in them. Somehow, that scared him more than anything.  
  
Without saying a word, Felin took the bandage from Evan and handed him a cloth and moved a bowl of warm water to his side.  
  
"Oh God, please. I swear I'll never bother any of the Brotherhood again, I'll do my homework, go to church, I'll listen more to Auntie 'Roro and the Professor…"  
  
As Evan began his frantic prayer, Felin took a deep breath and began his. Somehow, he hadn't thought the test would be so… gruesome. 


	42. Chapter 41

~~ Todd ~~  
  
The darkness gave way to a faint light. Confused and disoriented, Todd fought his way through the absolute nothingness that surrounded him to the light.  
  
And then he was falling into it, but it wasn't light, it was hot, too hot, and it burned every little part of him- ate away his skin and his hair, gnawed at his bones when it got done with his flesh. As Todd thrashed in the pool of fiery liquid he noticed a ladder. He fought for the presence of mind to swim to it and pull himself from the pool. Todd looked down at what may have been his doom and caught his breath. Then he looked down and fainted dead away.  
  
~~ Evan ~~  
  
The water was tainted beyond red, it was so bloody that Evan swore that it may as well have been blood itself. Just when they got the bleeding to stop, Todd's back arched and he screamed even more painfully than before. Right before their eyes, his skin flared bright red and then just melted away. Evan and Felin backed away as Todd's legs and the bottom of his torso slowly melted into nothing. Evan began hyperventilating as he saw the raw flesh hanging limply over the places where the rest of Todd was missing. Then Todd unceremoniously burst into fire.  
  
~~ Todd ~~  
  
It was like all his pores just decided to spit fire at once. Todd jerked from the darkness of his faint to the darkness of his torture chamber, the only thing that had changed was the temperature. It had only gotten hotter. Todd vaguely remembered going to South Carolina with his foster parents once in mid summer. They had mistimed the whole thing, so they ended up driving in a car with no AC in the middle of noon on a day that was 105 degrees in the shade.  
  
As he burned, Todd wondered what he had done to deserve something like this. Which got him thinking about his life as a mercenary, meeting Pietro, giving up his title and joining the Brotherhood. That led him right down that awful memory lane that preceded that very moment.  
  
And as simply as that, Todd knew what he had to do.  
  
~~ Evan ~~   
  
Once the fire burned out, all that was left was a blackened skeleton.  
  
"Not safe." Felin said after a painful moment.  
  
"I… had no idea." Torma stuttered. She had lost all pretense of haughtiness and just looked scared. Quite a crowd had collected to see what was going on and now that the show was over, they all looked to the same person.  
  
The human who had been the Mage's friend. He didn't seem concerned at all. With a forced air that made it obvious that he wasn't as disturbed as they were, Evan sat down next to Kurt and waited. The crowd left quickly after that and Shir dragged Torma away.  
  
Felin looked at the human, who was doing his best to ignore the fact that anything had happened. Without another word he sat and began to pray.  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
Bobby ran a hand through his hair for the millionth time. He had managed to get about two hours of sleep, thanks to an overdose of Tylenol PM, but then woke up certain that something was wrong. He went downstairs to find Pietro zipping around, checking doors and windows.  
  
"Bad dream." Was his explanation as he settled in the kitchen again.  
  
"About Todd?" Bobby asked as he dropped into a chair too.  
  
"Hm." Pietro said noncommittally.  
  
"You think Logan made it out yet?"  
  
That drew a chuckle from Pietro. "Unfortunately, yes, he has. Arrived about an hour ago. I woke up and saw him staring at me with those damn claws."  
  
"Hey." They looked up to see Lance and Mystique in the doorway. "Couldn't sleep. I gave up trying." Lance sat down and propped his feet up on the table.  
  
Mystique made a beeline for the coffee machine and then proceeded to open every closet, drawer and cabinet in the kitchen, though what she was looking for was anyone's guess. It would have been that much easier to just ask Pietro where it was. After she catalogued everything in the kitchen she nodded to herself and fixed a pot of coffee. By then, Jean had given up trying to sleep as well. They all looked at each other and silently wondered what happened next. There was a TV in the kitchen, a little black and white, but everyone steadfastly avoided looking at it.  
  
"'Mornin'." Remy muttered almost eight hours later, startling everyone, even Mystique, out of a deep sleep. They all looked at each other, confused. "Kept seein' 'er face. Or lack of it. Ah shoulda' done sumting. But just… too slow." Remy stared out the window before dumping out the cold coffee and preparing a new pot. By the time Logan came down half an hour later, Remy had dumped almost a pint of ~something~ in the pot and was complaining about how coffee doesn't taste right if it's brewed in a coffee maker. Logan made him share, and between the two of them they polished off three more pots like it.  
  
Finally, after Storm and Remy broke down and fixed breakfast, Logan got tired of pretending.  
  
"So why aren't we out fightin'?"  
  
"We aren't ready yet." Bobby said.  
  
"When do you intend on being ready?" Wolverine asked, voice dripping venom.  
  
"I intend on being ready as soon as possible. Tell me, what are this thing's weak points?" Logan growled because he knew deep in his core that it had no weak spots, or at least none that they were strong enough to take advantage of. "Just give it a rest. We'll just have to wait until people smarter than us can figure out what to do."  
  
"And how will we know when that happens." Logan drawled.  
  
"We'll hear the explosions." Mystique answered for Bobby. Logan settled in with another growl. 


	43. Chapter 42

~~ Evan ~~  
  
Suddenly, he understood exactly what was going on. These people weren't really there to help the mutants, they were just a bunch of weird people with wings who thought they owned the world and could hold the mutants hostage until… whenever.  
  
Evan sulked beside Kurt's bed and plotted a million ways to escape. The only problem was that none of them would get three injured and unconscious people out of a pitch black maze some hundred feet beneath the surface of the earth. Evan was so engrossed that he completely ignored the startled gasp from across the room. It wasn't until he felt someone's arms around his neck that he snapped out of it.  
  
"What?! Think you can get rid of me so easily, huh?" He shouted as he jumped to his feet.  
  
"Chill, yo." Came a weak, but unmistakable voice. "My legs aren't working right. Wait, I didn't mean it like that. I mean. You know when your legs fall asleep… yeah that." Without further ado, Todd collapsed and if not for Felin, he would have landed hard on the ground.  
  
"Is this for real?" Evan asked as he dropped back onto his stool.  
  
"I'm alright. Just getting my land legs." Todd seemed to find that immensely funny because for the next five seconds he devoted all his energy to giggling since he didn't have enough to actually laugh. "Anyway. What was I thinking? I forgot. Damn. Where are we again? Where that damn blue freak? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just need to pull myself together." That inspired another chorus of giggles and Todd stumbled out of Felin's arms and tottered to Kurt's bedside. "You mind doing the honors, big guy?" Todd said vaguely. Evan couldn't help but laugh. Todd was talking to the wall. He snorted as if to say "Be that way" and turned a full 360 and repeated himself to that same wall. Felin cleared his throat and Todd jumped, peered at him in the dim light and blinked. "You're a tiny little blighter, aren't you." Now Todd was staring at the stool.  
  
"Rest first. Then talk." The Healer said.  
  
"Who're you? Pietro? What the Hell did you do to your hair? That damn, what's he called? Logarine, whatever. Did he? You know what… I feel high. Or drunk. Or both. Probably all three. What was I doing?" Todd clutched his head.  
  
"Sleeping." Felin supplied, worried again. His patient was behaving rather erratically.  
  
"Was I? Why am I so tired? Oh well. Furball, get up." Todd shook Kurt roughly.  
  
"He's hurt, you moron. Leave him alone." Evan said, on arms.  
  
"Shut up. I know when my own enemy is hurt. You worry about Pietro. He probably needs consolatingismumum. Thing. Yeah."  
  
'Pietro' sighed and moved to the other side of the bed. He held one hand a few inches above Kurt's chest and whispered a few words.  
  
"That's better." Todd said. He then leaned forward with an evil grin that looked even more so in the half-light and proceeded to scream profanity in about three different languages in Kurt's hypersensitive ear.  
  
Kurt made no visible move other than to twitch his eyebrow. Mind you, I said no visible move, but that didn't mean he wasn't moving.  
  
Like a bullet from a gun, Kurt's spaded tail shot from underneath the blanket and wrapped around Todd's throat. "If you call me zhat vun more time, I'll lose my religion…" he threatened.  
  
Todd muttered something that couldn't quite be heard over Evan's cheer, although the lack of air may have had something to do with Todd's voice. Kurt released Todd as he was drawn into a bear hug by Evan and Todd cackled evilly.   
  
"Here we go loop-dee-loop." He said happily and turned to Haiden. "I like applesauce." (A/N That's the default idiot's phrase. I invented it myself…) Todd's eyes glowed a bright yellow in the semidarkness, but only for a second. A moment later, Haiden sat up, gasping for air. "Do you like applesauce?"  
  
"Wh- what?" Todd? You're… you…"  
  
"…like applesauce." Todd finished for him before he worked his way to Scott's side. "Not good. Very not good."  
  
"Can you fix his arm?" Kurt asked the silver haired man.  
  
He smiled. "Not fix. Can grow another."  
  
Kurt was beside himself. He even hugged the man, though he was a bit surprised to discover there was a bit more… stuff behind him than appeared at first glance. Needless to say, Felin was surprised at Kurt's outburst, and even more so upon finding Kurt's tail wrapped firmly around his leg.  
  
Todd was slowly gathering his wits about him and adjusting to the darkness. "Yo, I think we should let the doc do his thing in peace. I imagine limb growing is… well you know. Hard. Or something." He finished lamely as every directed their attention to him.  
  
"Ja. And zen ve go back to finish this." Kurt said with such conviction and energy that even Haiden agreed. With that, they filed out of the room laughing at Kurt's antics, especially those involing just how Valzinameku would suffer. Felin looked down at the human lying on the bed before him and wondered if it was possible to defeat the demon. A slow smile spread across Felin's face. It seemed not even the Fates were quite sure what to make of these humans. Until he could see exactly what they were capable of, Felin had no intention of underestimating them.  
  
They deserved better than that.  
  
~~ Bobby ~~  
  
"I can't take it any more. We rested for three days. Aren't we ready yet, aren't we? C'mon…" Logan was going insane. The mutants had been sleeping, eating, resting up for the big showdown that they all felt coming.  
  
Or, as Remy put it, getting their houses in order.  
  
Finally, Bobby turned the TV on.  
  
Suddenly everyone was in the den looking at the big screen TV set.  
  
"Holy mother of Christ…" Lance swore.  
  
"Nothing? If he had been up to something it would have been all over the news." Jean said, not really believing their luck.  
  
"So turn it off fast before our luck changes." Kitty added.  
  
"Luck? What do you mean luck? We have no idea where he is, what he's doing… how is this luck. I was counting on at least a half dozen reporters to be following his every movement with cameras, but now… he could be on the other side of the planet by now and without the Professor's funds or the Blackbird, how are we supposed to get him even if we find out where he is?" Bobby ran both hands through his hair.  
  
"So… it's a bad thing that he hasn't killed anyone yet?"  
  
"Yes. A very bad thing." Bobby snapped at Kitty. "It means while we were recovering and waiting for a way to track him, he's had three days to set up a trap for us or he even may have found a way to bring the house down on our heads. Three days… can you imagine what he could have accomplished in three days with as fast as he travels. We don't know if he made any stops, or had any contacts from before we caught up with him in Mason…"  
  
"So we're fucked." Pietro said.  
  
"Yeah. We're fucked."  
  
"Just to make sure, we're calling this an emergency, right? Desperate measures and whatnot…"  
  
"Yes, Pietro." Bobby was so frustrated that he was radiating cold.  
  
"Well, then I might suggest calling in extra help. Chances are they'll cause as much damage to us as Valzinameku, but…"  
  
"Who? Why didn't you mention this before?"  
  
"Because Todd was there before. And… well, Wanda. Some friends of hers… You know."  
  
"Do we really need that kind of help?" Logan asked as everyone paled.  
  
"She has friends…" Remy wondered aloud.  
  
"Yeah. So. Should I?" Pietro asked again. "I'm not gonna do it unless everyone agrees…"  
  
"Er… well. Until we find out where the demon has gone, we don't need to do anything that drastic." Jean supplied.  
  
"I bet Wanda could find him." Lance said slowly.  
  
"Then you would certainly win. Hey there. Name's Jean-Paul. Call me Northstar. I've been sent to invite you to a house warming party thrown by the Scarlet Witch. She has a proposal we think you may find interesting." Northstar looked like an older, more rugged version of Pietro, minus the hairdo. He wore shades that partially obscured his eyes, but if the tension that was radiating from Logan was any indication, he was a lot more dangerous than he appeared.  
  
"How convenient." Jean said. Everyone looked at Bobby.  
  
"Well. If Wanda's inviting us, I guess we have no choice but to accept."  
  
"I just want to make it known that I have a very bad feeling about this."  
  
"By the way, I don't suppose Slay still travels with you guys… I owe him a favor or two." Northstar's voice grew crystalline and through the glasses, everyone could see his eyes narrow. "I intend to repay him."  
  
____________________________________________________________  
  
A/N  
  
Just in case you didn't read the other apologies, I'M REALLY REALLY SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG!! I just moved into the Governor's School (of Science and Mathematics) and as soon as people got on the net they infected the server with worms and viruses. It took forever to get it fixed and then the card was messed up and all the drama. We finally got it fixed for good. I hope.   
  
Anyhow. I'm proud of the fact that I have seen only five eps. of X-Evo. I wanted to add some new characters. So I added a few from the comic books. I hope that's cool. Don't worry. As soon as things settle here, there'll be more death and destruction and maybe, just maybe I can get rid of Jean... 


	44. Chapter 43

~~ Scott ~~  
  
"That wasn't so bad, actually. Thanks."  
  
"Very strong. Easy." Scott was sitting in a bed in a dark room with the only light coming from one of those weird modern lights in the corner. That was fine with him, so was the doctor's silence. Scott needed a minute or two to get his bearings and bright light and noise were definitely not conducive to his thought process. He had long since come to terms with being crippled, but while he had been sleeping, someone brought him to the doctor who did something and fixed him. As Scott leaned back on the headboard, he looked at the doctor's wings and figured one of the Brotherhood must have taken him to one of their underground friends. This 'doctor' was probably just a mutant with healing powers.  
  
"May I ask your name?" Scott asked.  
  
"K'ten nec Felin." Was the reply. Cay-ten Neck-fell-in? Scott blinked. What?  
  
"Oh. Nice to meet you. I'm Scott Summers." To his surprise the other man began laughing.  
  
"K'ten is title. Means Scholar-Mage. Nec joins title and name." he handed a cup to Scott and bade him drink it. "Humans speak different. Call me Felin."  
  
Scott sipped the drink as he thought about that. 'Humans speak different'… he didn't like what that implied, but Scott decided that he couldn't rule out the possibility that he was trapped with a madman. "Mage, huh?"  
  
"Yes." Felin sat on a stool to Scott's left, one that put him out of the direct rays of light. "Middle class Vulgate. Nobles are K'mas and warriors are lowest class, K'vas."  
  
Scott stopped pretending to drink. "Vulgate? Isn't that some version of the Bible?"  
  
"What is bye-bull?"  
  
Scott and Felin stared at each other for a moment as if something just occurred to them.  
  
"Is this for real?" Scott asked.  
  
"Is anything for real?" Felin answered.  
  
"Well. Where I come from…"  
  
And so it was that the foundations of the Vulgate Empire were shaken even further.  
  
~~ Kurt ~~  
  
It took a little getting used to, playing Blind Man's Bluff with kids who could fly. Every time he got close to one, they took off. Even so, it was a pretty fair game, since Kurt's tail didn't give off enough heat for the Vulgates to see and moved too fast for them to dodge well. They played until the kids were too tired to continue and then they begged Kurt to perform for them. Never one to turn down an opportunity to display his gymnastic talent, Kurt paced off an area, made sure it was clear by tumbling and scattering dirt in all directions and making sure the dirt hit only the ground, not an errant stone or box that was just waiting to trip him up.  
  
For the next five minutes, he amazed the crowd of Vulgates and by the time he finished, he had collected a crowd that got him thinking about his days in the Munich circus. Until he noticed that there were a few people staring at him a bit too intensely.  
  
"K'mas nec Kurt." Came a soft voice from the crowd, and though they pronounced his name with the proper German inflection, it took a moment for him to realize they were talking to him. He peered at the crowd, trying to tell who had called him. Although Kurt's night vision let him see more than Todd, Haiden or Evan, he could only see a few feet in front of him, just enough to make out the shape of the crowd.  
  
"Kurt? Did you say Kurt?"  
  
"Was that Scott?" Evan asked from his post by a fountain. Haiden and Todd were with him, but they had missed the voice over the babble of the crowd.  
  
"Ja…"  
  
"Friend is better." And there was Scott striding across the cleared area as if he could see where he was going. The crowd got quiet as they watched the scarlet ovals floating across the clearing. No doubt they saw a human with burning eyes, since the Vulgates relied on heat to navigate. Then again, many had never seen light before, so they were blinded by the light coming from Scott's shades.  
  
"Hey, Kurt." He flexed his new arm. "Where are the others? We need to start thinking about how to get out of here."  
  
Todd shouted and made a dash for Scott. "Thank God!! I don't have to think any more!!"  
  
"Todd? What do you mean by that?"  
  
"He was incredible." Haiden said as he and Evan picked their way more carefully towards Scott. "After you and Evan were hurt, Todd got everyone out of the tunnels."  
  
"I helped!" Kurt interrupted.  
  
"Yeah, but it was Todd who did the most, but... maybe we should go see if the others need help. They probably pounded that demon to corn meal and are waiting for us to get back."  
  
"Monster? Wait, back up. Let's pretend I fainted back while we were hiding from the army in that supply closet. Now, what's happened since I was gone?"  
  
Haiden sighed. "That was how long ago? Man. Well… I don't know the whole story-"  
  
"Who does?" Todd interrupted.  
  
"But…" Haiden continued. "It's not a happy story, that's the truth."  
  
"I can take it. Meanwhile, Felin, could you arrange transport for us? We really need to get back to the surface."  
  
"Done. Your escorts come soon."  
  
"Alright. So, Haiden, is it? Hit me." 


	45. Chapter 44

~~ Bobby ~~  
  
Northstar claimed to be the fastest mutant on earth. Pietro wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to make a race of it. They tied. Now they were both testing their mettle on the 'New Brotherhood' as Jean-Paul insisted they be called. Bobby and Kitty wholeheartedly disagreed. They decided to vote on it. They tied, since no one else wanted to get involved. So the four of them placed bets (not money, just junk food) on who could annoy who the most.  
  
Logan sighed. He was driving now, destination Quebec. He kept thinking that they shouldn't be so far from Bayville, that maybe Valzinameku would stay close to the little town, but it was best not to get Wanda upset. She had quite a temper. Logan looked at the pale boy riding shotgun. Bobby looked sick, not just a little flu bug kinda sick, but seriously sick. He didn't have a fever and other than looking like Hell warmed over, there was nothing wrong with him, but Logan couldn't help shaking the feeling that there was something he was missing. Maybe their situation was finally sinking in and Bobby was having trouble coping…  
  
"You alright, kid?" Logan asked glancing at Bobby again.  
  
"What happened? It's like everyone's dying. And then this guy who looks like Evan runs off to kill even more people. Logan, if we can't protect our own, how are we supposed to protect non-mutants, too? What's the point?"  
  
Logan drove in silence, trying to think of an answer. Truth was he was trying not to think, because the same questions kept popping up in his mind too. "Well. Charley would say it's a matter of moral fiber. You can fight for what you believe in and die for it. Or you can not fight for it and die anyway. You wanna live a happy life, don't do anything. You wanna have something powerful to be remembered by, die in a powerful way. Course, Charley would also find a way to mention that if we can't to anything on our own, we should try working together, and maybe add in that bit about how if we don't fight for the normal people, who will. But I guess the only way to really answer that question is to think about what means more to you. Fighting and dying for yer friends or fighting and dying for a stranger, cause you know you'll die fightin' either way. It's in yer blood."  
  
"I guess."  
  
"Guessin's what got us in this mess. We guessed one too many times and every time we guessed, we guessed wrong."  
  
"But Logan. It was us who started this whole thing. Evan and Kurt who tried to help Pheonix. Evan who got caught by… and weren't we the ones who-"  
  
"Damn straight. And if you don't stop complaining it's gonna be you who gets thrown out the window. You have no faith. It'll work out. It has to."  
  
"I hate to tell you this, Lance but you, Mystique and Pietro are all that's left of the Brotherhood. How's it gonna work out?"  
  
"Well, Mystique has a degree. She can get a job. Pietro has his dad's money and I have friends who can hook me up with a job. How about you?"  
  
"My family's probably disowned me by now." Bobby returned slowly.  
  
"Who cares about that? What are you gonna do once all's said and done?" When Bobby didn't answer, Lance shook his head. "No faith. That's why you're gonna die. You don't have anything to look forward to. Nothing to do before you die. Deep down, you really just want it to be over with. And for your information, Todd is not dead."  
  
"What do I plan to do after this?" Logan wondered out loud. "Probably go back to the Institute. Hmmm. Never thought much further than a day or two actually."  
  
"You don't want to settle down, find a girlfriend, get married, have a kid or two?" Pietro asked as if that was what everyone looked forward to in life.  
  
"Nope. Don't see myself as the settlin' down type."  
  
"I think you'd do well on a farm." Pietro said with the air of one who meant something other than what they said, but was determined not to let their victim know it.  
  
"You'd do well in a prison."  
  
"I wonder… where Scott is…" Jean said. "I never really pictured a future without him."  
  
"I never pictured the Institute without it's founder." Storm said quietly. "It just goes to show, doesn't it…"  
  
"Well, I intend to find Slay and give him what-for for abandoning me like that." Northstar announced. He waited for someone to ask him why and where 'Slay' abandoned him, but no one did. In fact, the only one who knew he was talking about Todd was Logan and he wasn't going to ruin Todd's memory like that.  
  
"I'm bored." Jean-Paul said louder.  
  
"Shut up or you'll be stiff as a board by the time I get done with you." Lance threatened.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."  
  
~~ Scott, Haiden, Evan, Todd and Kurt ~~  
  
"So he's dead."  
  
"Yeah." Todd said sadly. "Him and just about everyone else."  
  
"But only just about."  
  
The other mutants looked at Scott.  
  
"C'mon. Someone's still alive up there. We have to find them and organize a counter attack against this thing."  
  
"I'm all for that, Scott, but there is no attack that'll work against this thing."  
  
"We'll think of something. We have to, everyone's counting on us. Now let's get going. The more time we waste down here, the more suffering the people above us are going through. Felin, what about that ride?"  
  
K'ten nec Felin merely pointed to the fountain, where a score (20) of Vulgate had gathered during the rather jumbled explanation of the events that had passed.  
  
"That's an awful lot of people, isn't it?" Todd asked.  
  
"They help."  
  
A thin but muscular man separated himself from the group and approached the mutants. He had a friendly smile, Kurt noted, but sad eyes.  
  
"K'vas nec Hiva." He greeted them genially.  
  
Scott nodded and took over. He had learned a lot from Felin, like the fact that although the Vulgates didn't speak the same language as the humans, they could understand it. He decided to build on that and hope the Vulgates wouldn't be too floored by the surface world.  
  
"Scott Summers. Todd Tolansky, Kurt Wagner, Haiden Malcolm. So, the sooner we get this over, the better. How're we traveling?"  
  
"We fly." Hiva's grin was infectious. Unfortunately for Scott, the infection wasn't a good thing.  
  
"What do you mean fly? We can't fly. Besides, we're in tunnel. How do you fly in a tunnel underground? Isn't there another, better plan, I mean, what if something goes wronnnnnnnngggggggggggg!!!"  
  
Without waiting for Scott to finish, Hiva and his followers latched onto the mutants and took off.  
  
Scott was less than pleased.  
  
"What if we run into something at this speed? Do you know what happens when fast objects stop suddenly? Do you have any idea? AHHH! Something almost hit me! I felt it go past! Watch what you're doing, I'm slipping!!"  
  
The other mutants were having the time of their lives. Kurt, with his incredible sense of depth perception was teleporting with his Vulgate, disappearing and reappearing so that the flyers around them had to duck and weave to avoid being hit by the two of them. It was all good and well that the young brats were having fun, one older Vulgate said to another, but the least they could do is leave us out of it.   
  
Most of the Vulgates were having a blast listening to Scott panic. They would swoop past him and send him shrieking into a fit about stalactites and stalagmites. The truth was, there was nothing around except the other Vulgates and their passengers. A skyscraper could have fit in the tunnel they were flying in, and it was so long that you couldn't hear an echo because you were virtually in an open field.  
  
It wasn't long before things changed though.  
  
There was a low noise, like thunder that echoed in everyone's ears.  
  
"Do they have storms down here?" Evan asked uncertainly.  
  
One of the Vulgates shouted something unintelligible that sent the rest of them swooping and diving in a random display that would amaze even the most experienced pilot. It was a wonder that they didn't run into each other.  
  
Thhhhhwap! Something snapped taut and one of the Vulgates near Scott gave a short grunt. Even if the X-Men were flying blind, they knew trouble when they heard it. With the efficiency of a million missions successfully completed, Scott focused on the ground and fired an optic blast. In the burst of light, the other mutants saw giant hornless rhinos running beneath them. One of the things had shot out its tongue like a chameleon and was barreling across the sand attached to a Vulgate right to Scott's left. The man was slowly but surely being dragged downwards.  
  
"Did you see them, Evan?" Scott called.  
  
"Yeah, but doubt I can get through that armor, I'll need more light if you want me to hit one in a soft spot." Evan answered as he readied a spike.  
  
"We'll have to land ahead of them and fight on the ground. I can't use my power because it's blinding the Vulgates enough as it is." Scott felt the Vulgate speed up, presumably to land ahead of the monsters so they could coordinate an attack on them. Unfortunately, that meant leaving the captured Vulgate flying alone, a prospect that didn't please Scott at all. "Kurt, as soon as that thing drops him, you get that guy out of there. You have about a split second before I start shooting. As soon as you get a shot, Evan, you focus on the one that's got our guy."  
  
Hiva set Scott down gently and stood behind him, already shielding his eyes against the red light. Scott waited until Evan and Todd were safe by his side before he shot a few blasts to see by.  
  
"Got it." Evan exclaimed as he heaved his spike towards the monster. With a deafening shriek, it let go of the Vulgate and turned its attention to the mutants. Scott heard the first BAMF and started shooting. Because of the sheer size of the things, he simply took off his glasses and stared them down. A hail of arrows and bone spikes rained on the creatures, who shook them off easily. Only the light had an effect on them. They slowed and finally stopped.  
  
"Where's Kurt?" Scott asked, feeling a headache coming on. He had never let his blasts continue for so long, so he had never anticipated any side effects of it. Now was not a good time to discover them.  
  
"Here. Can we go now?" Kurt asked, shaken. When he had teleported, one of the monsters had actually followed him into that cold, bright place that he thought only teleporters could go. He didn't like what that implied.  
  
"Yeah, it'll take them a second to get used to the dark again, so that's about all we have to get out of here."  
  
"Gotcha." Hiva said, pleased that his follower was safe and that he had learned at least one word from the mutants. Scott slipped his shades back on and almost lost them as Hiva leapt into the air with Scott in his arms. It took the monsters longer than Scott thought it would to pull themselves back together. It was long enough for the Vulgates to build enough speed to leave them far behind.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Todd said after about five minutes.  
  
"Don't you dare start, Toad, or I'll fry you." Scott threatened.  
  
"I don't doubt that you will." Todd answered mildly.  
  
"Then shut up." 


	46. Chapter 45

~~ Quebec ~~  
  
"Good to see you again, brother." Wanda said as a formality. "Let's hurry up with this."  
  
Jean-Paul was apparently braver than he seemed at first glance. He had the nerve to babble aimlessly even when Wanda fixed her steely gaze on him. Finally a green-haired girl who had been busy blending in with the wall decided that he had talked enough. With startling accuracy, she threw a misshapen pot at Jean-Paul and added another neat dent to it's equally impressive collection of dents.  
  
"Nice shot." Logan complimented.  
  
"Practice makes perfect." She shrugged modestly as half of the mutants fell into a fit of giggles. She held up her hand and the pot zoomed back to her. "My name is Lorna Dane. You've met Jean-Paul. He," she pointed at a blonde kid who was sitting at a small table and leaning on the two back legs of the chair. "well, that's Alex." She fixed an obviously observant eye on them. "Summers."  
  
Jean gasped. "Scott's brother?"  
  
"The same. I see that he's not here though." Alex said, more than a little disappointed.  
  
"He's… well. He's not here right now." She finished lamely, trying not to think about it, but failing utterly. Wanda ran a hand through her hair impatiently as Storm, Kitty and Remy broke down too. At least Remy stood off to the side and didn't make deal of bawling his eyes out.  
  
"We can see all that. Crying is useless and you're wasting my time. You took long enough getting here."  
  
"Sorry, but the Blackbird is a bit out of reach right now. We had to drive in the van." Logan said wanly.  
  
"While you were taking your little road trip, your friend made his first attack."  
  
"Yeah…" Logan perched on the table. So far the fight had been personal, Valzinameku hadn't shown the power they all knew he had.  
  
"Yes. As a result, half of New York city is gone."  
  
"What?" all tears forgotten, the X-Men looked up, completely surprised by the turn of events.  
  
"What, you thought he'd kill only one or two people to warm up first?" Pietro asked them. He, Lance and Mystique seemed to be expecting the news. In fact they looked relieved.  
  
"How?" Jean stuttered.  
  
"He tunneled underneath the island and then flooded the tunnels, sewers, pipes. The lot of it. Half of the underground pipes aren't used, so they couldn't hold the water in. Do you know what a ton's worth of water pressure does to a cracked pipe, never mind the manhole or street above it? So when the water finally made it to the manholes, it practically blew the street up and showered the buildings with hunks of concrete and asphalt the size of anything from pebbles to full sized buses. Times about a thousand since there are manholes everywhere. The debris brought most of the city down."  
  
"Oh dear God…" Jean whispered as she pictured that.  
  
"Yes. He is, isn't he." Wanda said with a distant look in her eyes. Suddenly she snapped back into focus. "That's why we're going to raise another god."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Storm asked, feeling distinctly uncomfortable at the mention of making gods.  
  
"Fine, not gods, but close enough. The difference between the angels Gabriel and Lucifer is all a matter of perspective. If Gabriel can return, so can Lucifer."  
  
"Well, he's dead too." Lance said, rolling his eyes at what Wanda was saying.  
  
"Is he? I believe that Lucifer wasn't given a chance. What kind of God would ignore his angels to the point that they rose against him?"  
  
"I'm not sure that's how it happened, Wanda." Pietro said carefully.  
  
"So what are you sure of? The victors write the history books, do you believe the world will end soon?"  
  
"It ends for all of us eventually, Wand."  
  
"No, our lives end, but our world doesn't. This is the Apocalypse battle."  
  
"Don't remind me of him." Logan muttered.  
  
Wanda glared at them. "This is the battle where Earth's fate is decided. The fallen angel will have his chance to redeem himself."  
  
Kitty gasped. "That's exactly what I was saying on the hill before we went to Mason. It's like, history is trying to change itself now."  
  
"Why?" Lance asked, flustered that his girlfriend would agree with Wanda Maximoff of all people.  
  
"I don't know." Wanda shrugged.  
  
"So, let's think about this." Kitty said as she began pacing. With a variety of smirks and grins, the rest of the mutants situated themselves in the small living room of the also small house that Wanda and her 'friends' were staying in.  
  
"This all started with Haiden, when someone tried to change a human into a mutant. From there, he split into two people. Two people," she waggled a finger at the wall as she noted the number, "discovered half of their identity. There was an argument, two people left, that would be Scott and Evan. Then two more left, Kurt and Pietro."  
  
"You forgot one that came. Magneto."  
  
"Right, right, he was with us. So that makes, 1,2,2,2,1,2."  
  
"Uh-huh." Logan said, just to humor her. He was thinking along different lines entirely.  
  
"So, like, then we got captured, but we left two X-Men behind to watch the kids. Then Haiden shows up, that makes a one."  
  
"Okay, one one, three twos, one one, two twos…" Lance prompted.  
  
"And then-"  
  
"What do numbers have to do with this?" Lorna asked.  
  
"I'm looking for a pattern."  
  
"Okay… found one yet?"  
  
Kitty didn't answer. She was staring at a book that Jean-Paul had picked up. It was a book about Greek Mythology.  
  
"Lucifer the light-bearer... of course. Why didn't I see that earlier? The Fates..."  
  
"Well? Speak up." Lorna snapped at Kitty.  
  
"Lucifer was a Vulgate, their gods were called the Fates. But Lucifer didn't agree with the Fates, so he left. I remember one of my teachers mentioned that Lucifer actually a godling in some mythology or other. He was the light-bearer until he messed up and Zeus gave him the boot. And the same thing happens in the Bible, too."  
  
"After Lucifer's betrayal, there's usual a hard battle..."  
  
"Yeah, but look. This time, things have been set off balance. By Haiden and Phoenix. Look, if not for them, where would we be? Back at the Institute until we were called upon to fight Valzinameku. If you think our losses are bad now, imagine what they would have been if we hadn't combined forces with the Brotherhood... Guys, some scientist out there tampered with nature, they played God and created a pair of people who turned the tables upside down. Instead of us being dead, unable to help turn the tide, Lucifer will lose the battle again."  
  
"Hang on. Let's make a few things very, very clear. I don't believe in God any more than it takes to swear at something," Lance said, earning several snorts from the people in the room. "But if what you're saying is right, then you want us to join a guy who loses all the battles, all the time and fight against God? First of all, how do you beat a god, much less THE God? Secondly, what happens if we don't. Thirdly, how does Valzinameku fit in?"  
  
"We're practically gods ourselves. Nothing can hurt me unless I want it to, but I have faults. And you, you can control the ground we walk on. Think about it. Look at the war that the Professor and Magneto had going on. They were gentlemen about it, and still managed to cause all kinds of mayhem. If enough of us work together, then we can be Lucifer's backup. We have to help him, though. He helped us."  
  
"And the demon..."  
  
"He's Gabriel. Angels can take whatever form they want. And I mean, hello, Valzinameku and Lucifer were locked in that cave for like, forever."  
  
"Gabriel's kinda bloodthirsty."  
  
"To us he is, but if he's a God-sent angel, then he's got cause to kill all those people."  
  
"We have to raise Lucifer." Wanda added. "Or we have to fight as though we are him."  
  
"I don't like this. To much religion." Lance shook his head. "Don't look to me for any decisions. You guys fight over it and I'll just play along."  
  
Kitty and Wanda surveyed the remaining mutants. Things didn't look good for them.  
  
"Pietro. You will assist." Wanda declared.  
  
"I dunno. I'm with Lance on this. That guy suffered a lot. It's kinda mean to just rip him from death and drag him back here."  
  
"What? What are you talking about? We'll send him back later."  
  
"I don't think it's that simple." Ororo said slowly. "You're talking about overthrowing an entire religion. If Lucifer beats Valzinameku, then since he is God's representative, then God would put as much power in Valzinameku as possible to ensure victory." She looked around the room pausing to gaze into everyone's eyes. "If Lucifer wins, then Lucifer will become the new God. As much as we owe him, and as nice as he seems, I don't think we should force that on him."  
  
"What's wrong with being a god?" Jean-Paul asked. "I kinda like the thought actually."  
  
"Do you have any idea what it entails? How long til someone rises up against you?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"He didn't seem like the type of person who could handle watching people die for an eternity."  
  
"He did it for eons..."  
  
"He only said he was down there for eons. He never said that Valzinameku was feasting on them for that long."  
  
"Huh? He was eating them, ewwww. Gross."  
  
"Shut up, Jean-Paul." Wanda snapped at him.  
  
"I rather like the idea of no gods. That way we can decide our own fates." Mystique finally spoke up.  
  
"Hey, you guys have got me thinking... If Lucifer doesn't want to be the ultimate ruler, then he wasn't really the one who started the battle of the angels. So what if he didn't like what he saw happening and approached God about it. And then God didn't like that Lucifer was implying that he wasn't doing his godly duty. So he threw Lucifer out. But Lucifer kept making trouble, trying to get the rest of the angels to help him convince God that things needed to change. So God sent his most loyal angels to end things." Storm's scowl was slowly deepening, and she wasn't the only one, but Kitty was so wrapped up that she didn't notice. "I think that the whole point is that Lucifer lost because he didn't want to win. If he won, he'd have to deal with the changeover and build loyalty among the people he had fought against. So he pulled back with as many of his angels as he could. I mean, everyone knows that the devil is God's nemesis. Why have a nemesis who's weaker than you? I bet Lucifer could do it on his own, but he doesn't want to. That's where we come in... we have to show him that humans are responsible enough to control their own-"  
  
"You're making it sound like God's some crook." Bobby said, cold mist rising from his arms.  
  
"No, I'm just saying-"  
  
"What would you know about it?"  
  
"This is what I'm talking about!!" Kitty yelled. "We're operating on speculation. There's no proof at all, yet you're convinced that you have to protect your beliefs. That's why, if all that stuff applies, Lucifer won't fight back. People like you would tear him to bits. If we'd help, then maybe he wouldn't just give up."  
  
"So you want this to happen?"  
  
"Dammit, Bobby, don't let religion cloud your mind." Lance growled at him. "To hell with all that. The fact of the matter is that we've got a psycho running around, who's already killed half of one of the US's biggest cities and who's gonna kill some more. If some damn figment of your imagination is drowning that fact out, say so now so I can set you up on a permanent vacation." Lance rolled his sleeves up and glared at the mutants. "I'm not into all the explanations, but you're making me sick. Just fight, kill the damn thing and then worry about crap. He'll play on your wanting to know what's going on and anyone who'll get in the way isn't coming."  
  
"Well spoken." Logan agreed. "What'll it be?" he addressed the other mutants.  
  
"We're ready to resurrect him." Wanda said, indicating Alex, Lorna, Jean-Paul and herself.  
  
"I'm in." Lance said, unnecessarily.   
  
Remy nodded from his dark corner. "Though I ain't one for de da'k arts."  
  
Mystique shrugged, saying she didn't care either way.  
  
Jean, Bobby and Pietro steadfastly refused. Ororo refused to believe it had to come to killing her nephew.  
  
Logan sighed and bade Lance hold his rage for a little longer. "Let's get some sleep first. This isn't getting us anywhere."  
  
"That's exactly the point." Kitty muttered to herself as everyone turned away.  
  
"That's exactly it." 


	47. Chapter 46

~~ Scott, Evan, Kurt, Haiden, Todd ~~  
  
"Finally." Scott whispered as he stared up at the dark night sky. It was a different kind of dark, though. Even though clouds covered the moon and stars, it was the kind of darkness that promises not to last forever, they type of darkness that doesn't hint the absence of light, but rather, the absence of direct light.  
  
The Vulgates folded their wings and a moment later they disappeared entirely. Scott was about to ask why they were putting their wings away, but decided that it was only natural that they would want to see the world they had heard so much about.  
  
So they climbed out of the hole and sank into the soft grass and stared up at the blank sky.  
  
"Hmm." Hiva said softly. His face was an unreadable mask.  
  
Finally Scott sighed. "We should get going. There's no telling what happens next and I at least want to be in uniform for it."  
  
"Uh, the Institute was gutted, Scott."  
  
"Not all of it. Trust me, there are so many hidden rooms and passages that not even the Professor himself knows all of them. Besides. I'm sure they didn't rip out the showers."  
  
Scott turned around in a circle, trying to find the Institute.  
  
"Hmmm. Never been here before." Scott said carefully.  
  
"What?" Haiden said.  
  
"I'm cold." Todd complained.  
  
The Vulgates were quietly prowling around the area.  
  
"Why are we on a mountain? There aren't any mountains in Bayville." Kurt said.  
  
"Well, there are now." Scott said as he ran his hand over a broken sign.  
  
Fort Braddock  
  
Bayville, New York  
  
WARNING: This is a secure military compound,  
  
Invaders will be prosecuted  
  
~~ Valzinameku ~~  
  
Valzinameku was having fun rearranging the world, his world, to his liking. A river here, canyon there, oh, and a mountain range would be nice here, no... it just doesn't look right. A little to the left, no, that's too much...  
  
He laughed. Valzinameku liked the noise. It wasn't as loud as his true laugh, but it was pleasant in its own unique way. As he strolled across a newly leveled city, he called a forest of blackened, burnt looking trees up from the ground. They waved their branches and tried to grab him, but after one of them burst into flames and fell into cinders screeching, the rest stopped. Valzinameku tenderly stroked the base of one of the demon trees. His first true creations... Valzinameku turned away with a tear in his eye. Only one, because the first thing he saw was a human.  
  
Time to exercise his will on his newest subjects, Valzinameku decided.  
  
The human's eyes widened and it turned and ran. He followed at a more sedate pace and found himself looking at a veritable field of humans. They were all dressed in white and kneeling. As Valzinameku crested the slight rise to stand before them, they all sank even lower, stretching their arms out on the ground as if to worship him.  
  
And they were, though not for the reasons he thought they were. As Valzinameku, tucked away in Evan's body, crowed inwardly, he only smiled benignly.  
  
A second later, the screams began.  
  
Valzinameku seized hold of the thousand plus humans and began changing them to better serve him in this new world.  
  
Half of them doubled over, knees bending backwards and kneecaps actually sliding to the opposite side of the leg. Thier heels elongated, growing into a long bone that was attached to feet that slowly and excruciatingly turned backwards. One could literally hear the bones breaking, and one did.  
  
Through the screams, Valzinameku laughed again.  
  
The said humans howled even louder as enormous spikes ripped straight from their bones to pierce skin that was slowly becoming as hard as stone. One spike about three inches long protruded from the hard bone in the wrist and curved forward slightly. Two inches behind that one, and on top of the arm, rather than on the side, was another spike. This one was long enough to poke over the knuckles. A third spike, only two inches long, emerged from the elbows of each of the unlucky humans. Valzinameku scanned the minds of each briefly and picked his commanders from them. Marking them was simple. A large spike, two inches in diameter at the base and more than a foot in length sprouted from their shoulder blades. For those with higher rank, a plate of bone grew under the skin of their back and from this plate, more spikes grew. The higher the rank, the more spikes. The more spikes, the thicker the bases became.  
  
As the last of them fell to the ground twitching as their minds fought to catch up with the radical changes their bodies had gone through, Valzinameku turned his attention to the rest of the humans.  
  
He had no need for any more soldiers, now he needed minions.  
  
And that is what they became.  
  
Right before their eyes, mothers watched their children become shrunken and misshapen. Husbands watched their wives' skins become darker and darker until they matched the infinite darkness of the Underworld itself. Teeth sharpened to fangs, hands became twisted, bloody claws as bones shattered and rearranged themselves into something new. Voices that were one rich and deep became shrill and piercing, as sharp as everything else about them.  
  
It was painful, but nothing compared to the pain that the soldiers had gone through.  
  
Until Valzinameku decided that minions didn't need hearts.   
  
Responding to his silent command, the minions began removing each others hearts.   
  
The first soldiers to recover were the highest ranking officers, those with three to five spikes. They watched, impassive as the people they had once been friends with, lived by, loved, tore each other open. Some of the little ones, children at one point, began throwing the hearts at each other as though they were having a bloody snowball fight.  
  
Valzinameku ignored the minions for the moment, instead staring appraisingly at his army. There was one officer with six spikes. This one made its way to Valzinameku's side, stepping over the bodies of those who hadn't survived the transformation. It's step was springy, as though, because of it's newly configured bone structure, it was basically walking on springs. It walked with a measured pace, as though it knew it was being watched, and still had no intention of going any faster than it took to get where it was going. It scowled at one of its subordinates who didn't scramble out of the way fast enough. By the time he reached his master, all the soldiers who had survived were standing. It wasn't many compared to the number of minions, or the number who had been chosen as soldiers, but it was enough.  
  
With the leader of his army at his side, Valzinameku turned back to his minions. There was so much blood, and many were still bleeding. Valzinameku's magic wouldn't let them die from something he ordered them to do, so they just stood around and made life difficult for each other. Valzinameku looked at the intestines and other assorted organs that were hanging from one creature's torn stomach and decided that minions didn't need any of that stuff either.  
  
There was a flurry of movement as his subjects rushed to obey him.  
  
Once every minion was emptied of all its organs, except the brain, and had effectively bled itself dry, Valzinameku ordered them to heal themselves.  
  
There was much screaming and agony as the tortured souls tried to force the very cells of their bodies to respond to his call, to heal as quickly as possible, because even though the vast majority of their nerves were gone, enough remained, held intact by their evil Lord's magic, to make them fully aware of their suffering. Pitifully few remained, less than one hundred of what may have been six hundred people. There were still more minions than soldiers, it was perhaps three minions for every one soldier. Valzinameku extended his mind and once again skimmed the crowd for a leader.  
  
One near the front hissed and a black, forked tongue darted out of its mouth before it dropped something and started toward Valzinameku and his soldier. It was rectangular, rather thick and lined with gold. Valzinameku waved a hand towards it and the minion scurried to retrieve it. He knelt down at his master's feet with the item held reverently over its head.  
  
Valzinameku didn't touch it, but bent slightly to gaze at it curiously. A strong wind swept the field and the top of the thing moved a little. The next gust opened it and sent a flurry of black and white... things waving in the wind. They couldn't escape though, and fell silent as soon as the wind died. Valzinameku lost interest immediately and turned away. He was far more interested in admiring his work, though a whisper of what was left of Evan's mind said this man was halfway changed even before Valzinameku got to him.  
  
"What shall I call you?" He wondered aloud.  
  
"Creed." The soldier said in a deep voice that rumbled like thunder and shook the minion to it's poor, hollow core.  
  
"Creed." Valzinameku tested it out.  
  
"Victor Creed. Formerly Sabertooth." His eyes were two black orbs that glinted in the beautiful daylight, making him seem even more out of place.  
  
"Victor Creed. I like that. You shall be Victor Creed." Valzinameku looked down to where his minion was chasing a grasshopper. "And you shall be..." Valzinameku searched his and Evan's shared mind for a name and was disgusted to find that Evan's consciousness was fading more quickly than he had anticipated, worn away by the wear and tear of Valzinameku's renovations. Finally, he found what he was looking for. The name of the one person who meant the most to Evan. "Ororo Munroe." He concluded. "Munroe for short." Valzinameku smiled at the waiting soldier and minions. "Let's get going, you two. We have work to do."  
  
Valzinameku continued walking as Victor Creed and Munroe gathered their subordinates and followed. He was blissfully unaware of Creed pausing to relieve himself on a tree nearby and make three conspicuous marks on it, and other than the commanders of the soldiers, none of the transformed humans did anything other than what they were told, so none of them thought, or dared, to question Victor.  
  
Which was a good thing, because Victor was in a foul mood indeed, and was waiting for someone to take it out on. 


	48. Chapter 47

~~ Quebec ~~  
  
'Sleeping on it' only seemed to make the problem worse. Tempers sharpened as both sides tried to prove their point by discrediting their opposition. In fact, as Kitty gazed upon the people she had been through so much with, it occurred to her that maybe they weren't supposed to make a difference. Maybe they were supposed to die and let things happen the way they always did. Kitty was getting really depressed when she heard something that made everyone stop cold.  
  
A knock on the door.  
  
No one was supposed to know that they were in the small house, and even through all their arguing, the mutants made sure they didn't raise their voices too loudly. There were blackout curtains on the windows and just to be safe, they were using candles. So how could anyone have known where they were, unless...  
  
"We were followed." Logan hissed and his claws slid free of his knuckles. "Might as well let them in if they know we're here."  
  
Bobby and Kitty were closest to the door, but neither made a move towards it. Remy snorted and crossed the room. "Kids." He muttered as he passed them and flung the door open.  
  
"Greetings. My name is Lucifer. I am looking for a mute-ant named Todd. Is he here?"  
  
"Lucifer? Todd? Is this a joke?" Bobby asked.  
  
"What is your definition of joke?"  
  
"Come in, come in. You see," Wanda ushered the strange man in and hastily shut the door. "We aren't supposed to be here. Bad things could happen if we're found. Now, what do you know about Todd?"  
  
"I was sent to assist him."  
  
"With what?"  
  
"I don't want to lie to you, but I don't want to tell you the truth. In instances like this, I opt to say nothing at all."  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
Lucifer just looked around the room with a mild expression on his face. "I believe I've seen some of you before. Ah, Kitty. Good to see you made it safely."   
  
"Ya, well, I had, like, help." She said with a blush.  
  
As Lucifer continued his scan of the room, he nodded in recognition to Storm, Lance, Logan and Mystique.  
  
"Well, Todd's not here, we think he's dead, but..." Kitty trailed off as Lucifer fixed his cool blue gaze on her. He waited a moment for her to finish, but finding no comment forthcoming, signed it off as a 'human thing' and took control of the conversation.  
  
"Well, if you have no intention of introducing your companions," he gently reprimanded her for forgetting her etiquette, "You will be pleased to know that Todd is not dead. He is merely misplaced."  
  
"M-misplaced?"  
  
"Yes. It seems that he and I were separated during our return. I must find him now, and I suspect that you seek him as well."  
  
"Yes, in fact we were just about to summon you to help us." Wanda cut in. "I am Wanda Maximoff. This is Lorna Dane, Alex Summers and Jean-Paul." Wanda pointed to each as she named them.  
  
"Summon? You knew where I was?"  
  
"No, but we were planning on reincarnating you."  
  
"Re-in-car-nate?"  
  
"Yeah. That's when you fix up a new body for a dead person."  
  
"And how does the person get in the body?" Lucifer asked, morbidly fascinated by the idea. He wasn't quite sure what his mind was associating with the process, but it seemed painful.  
  
"Well, you burn candles and have a reincarnation ritual."  
  
"And how do you do that?"  
  
"Well, I can't just tell you that. That defeats the purpose of me being the only person who can do it."  
  
"You are? Have you tried it before?"  
  
"Yes. On animals, though."  
  
"Oh." Lucifer said. The one word carried with it an immense amount of respect and he looked at Wanda as a young child would look at an older sibling. In other words, the look in his eyes was nothing short of awe-inspired worship.  
  
"So how would you have raised me from the dead?"  
  
"The same way I did those animals." Wanda said irritatedly. Lucifer wasn't exactly the god-like creature she had expected, in fact, there was no proof that he even WAS Lucifer.  
  
"So you can re-in-car-nate anyone?"  
  
"Technically speaking, yes. It's harder than it seems, though. The basic requirement is that they have to have either died a tragic death or have had a lot of power while they lived."  
  
"What would I have to do to learn this magic?"  
  
"You can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I'm not going to tell you."  
  
"Then just teach me, I don't mind if you refuse to speak to me."  
  
"If I teach you, then I won't be the only one anymore. Got it? Besides. It's not a power you use on just anyone. The person isn't the same as they were when they were alive. The mind and powers are there, but they're basically just little robots."  
  
"Row-bots." Lucifer handled the word as if it were a fragile piece of china.  
  
"Stop doing that. Look, show us a sign that you're really Lucifer. You don't look evil or anything."  
  
"Why would I look evil?" He asked.  
  
"You're Lucifer, right... so show us some evil magic."  
  
"Umm, Wanda, that's not exactly the kind of request you make to someone who may be evil."  
  
"Shut up Pietro. Oh, this is my brother, Pietro Maximoff."  
  
"Greetings, Pietro Maximoff."  
  
"So get on with it."  
  
Lucifer thought for a moment. "I must admit. I have no idea what you're talking about."  
  
"She wants you to find Todd using magic." Alex supplied.  
  
"Oh, okay." Lucifer extended an arm and held his hand face up. A column of light shot up from his palm to show an image of Todd, Scott and Kurt's errant tail against a magnificent backdrop of what looked like a mountain.  
  
"Where are they?"  
  
"I will lead you." Lucifer said as he stretched. "How shall you travel?"  
  
"We're gonna need a bus soon." Logan muttered as everyone grabbed their meager belongings and ran to the X-Van.  
  
Once outside, Lucifer took one look at the van and took an instant dislike to it. He didn't say so, of course, but he turned away from it with a steely look on his face and summoned his wings.  
  
Four hours later, they were resting in an abandoned rest stop. Lucifer waited patiently while the mutants climbed out of the stomach of their monster (he had no idea what a van was) and stumbled to the building, many complaining loudly and rubbing their sore... areas.  
  
Logan leaned again the van and smoked a cigar. He must have noticed Lucifer staring at the van from the corner of his eye, because Logan gave a short 'humph' sound and knocked his knuckle against the side of the van.  
  
"It's plastic, see. Called a van. That's a type of vehicle, you know, you climb in and go places in it. A vehicle is a kind of machine. Machines run by electricity, like lightenin.'"  
  
Lucifer walked up to him, dropping his look of bored indifference. "Plastic?"  
  
"Yeah. You know what chemicals are?"  
  
"Like acid."  
  
"Yeah, acid is a chemical." Logan said in a patronizing tone. "There are other kinds of chemicals too. Plastic is like stone or metal, only made from chemicals. It can be as thick, hard, strong... you can make anything outta plastic."  
  
"Ah, ha. So. You capture lightening and make machines."  
  
"The thing is, everything is run by machines, just about. You make machines with electricity and they run on electricity."  
  
"Where do they go?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, that just means that they work because they have electricity running through them."  
  
"Like we do... we run on blood."  
  
Logan smiled. "You could say that."  
  
"So, you capture electricity to make and power your machines. Machines are made of plastic."  
  
"Not all of them." Logan said, amazed by Lucifer's patience. If it was him, he would have snapped by now. "Some are made of metal or a combination of the two."  
  
"Oh. So, machines have different types. One is called a vehicle and is used to travel... and vehicles have types too?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Tell me."  
  
"Well. You got some that fly in the air, some that go through the water- either under the surface or just floatin' on top, and then there's some that travel underground and some that travel over the ground. There's hundreds of types of each. This one," he rapped on the side of the van." Travels on the ground. There's a coupla real common ones that exist. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, SUVs, Jeeps... and there are about a million types of each of those."  
  
"Incredible. There must be a different vehicle for each person."  
  
Logan snorted as his mind flashed back to the Xavier Institute's garage. "There's some folks who have more than one, and some who have the same as other people."  
  
Lucifer looked thoughtful at that. He stared at the van again and, just to test what Logan had said, poked it.  
  
Logan laughed. "It's man-made, or at least computer made. It doesn't feel."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Cause there's nothin' in there that a human didn't design and put there for a purpose. Humans don't like their stuff to have independent thought. They just want it to do what it's told and nothing else. If cars could feel, they'd have taken over the world and made us all slaves by now. Just wait. You'll see what I'm talkin' about as we travel."  
  
"Speaking of traveling, are we gonna hit the road or what?"  
  
"Hit it?" Lucifer looked at the faded, but obviously hard pavement.  
  
"Not literally. It just means we should get going." Bobby said miserably. He was finding conversing with Lucifer to be a real chore.  
  
"Of course we will hit the road." Lucifer spread his wings wide, ruffled the feathers and then crouched slightly. He jumped lightly, pushing down with his wings and was airborne.   
  
He hovered until the van was back on the road and then they were off.  
  
The journey ended up going by faster than they anticipated. There was absolutely no one on the road. There was, however, no doubt why there was no one around. Especially as they neared Bayville.  
  
"Dear God..." Jean whispered as she stared at the twisted landscape.  
  
"Deergud? Is that the name of this place?"  
  
"This place... it used to be Bayville. It used to be home." 


	49. Chapter 48

Elsewhere

They had been on the move all day, traveling at paces to match their master. Sometimes he ambled along as though admiring the scenery; sometimes he walked with a purpose and a speed that left the dark minions scrambling in his wake. Or more technically, his soldiers' wake, since Creed wasn't about to let his fighters be outranked by a bunch of _minions._ They were just getting in the way, at least as far as he reasoned. Who needed minions anyhow?

If Creed was in a foul mood when he recovered from being changed, he was beyond being beyond reason now. He didn't like their pace. He didn't like the scenery. He didn't like the minions. He didn't like the fact that there were more minions than soldiers. And he made all of that known.

Valzinameku, nestled in the false security of Evan's clone, just smiled and walked on. He was thrilled with his new commanders who argued incessantly. Creed and his soldiers would openly scorn the minions and like the good, loyal followers they were, the minions would accept the abuse. Until one of the soldiers turned their attention away and received a sharp jab in the heels. A tussle would begin with as many as seven minions teaming up on one soldier, who held his own marvelously. As soon as Creed turned around, it would stop immediately, because the one thing they all shared in common was a deep rooted fear of Creed and his master. Their master.

Valzinameku led his chosen few across the countryside, reshaping it at his discretion. His chosen, not even two hundred strong, followed him like lemmings to the call of the sea. Twisted, zombie lemmings with brains like an overhyped juicer- led by a suicidal urge and steered by a homicidal, maniacal mutant who was just as likely to kill them as the sea...

It makes you wonder though, where the real danger lies... Valzinameku- happy in his world of make-believe, or Victor Creed- infinitely stronger and in a prime position to destroy to his heart's content.

Live the dream and the angels follow.

Bayville

It was tangible in a way that their surroundings were not. With the rising of the sun, the Vulgates were all but completely blinded. Even with their eyes shut and hands covering the delicate organs, light still pervaded their senses along with the intense cold that numbed everything that wasn't carefully covered. Todd and Scott stood slightly away from where the Vulgates were huddled with Evan, Kurt and Haiden. No one spoke. The time for that was gone. Now they all knew with no room for doubt that there was no way out of the valley. The Vulgates were too tired to fly and their wings were far too delicate to be in the cold like this. They had since tucked them safely out of the immediate cold, but the longer they stayed out there, the worse it would get. Kurt couldn't teleport and no one else was in much of a way to do anything either. They hadn't eaten in days, though down below the surface no one had even thought about eating. Now, above ground, subject to the cold, biting winds that whistled down the mountains, a million little problems jumped out at them. There was nothing to see but stone, nothing to feel but cold and nothing to hope for but a quick death at the hands of a predator.

"Todd, what are we going to do?" Scott sighed and reviewed the dismal landscape. "I'm all out of ideas. If we go back in the caves..."

"The others will get us. I know, I know. There's nothing we can do but find religion at this point." Todd shoved a few wispy strands of hair out of his face and pressed his hands against his eyes, trying to massage away the sharp pain that had been pounding its way through his skull for almost a day now.

"There's not really any religion I'm willing to believe at this point except one that dictates that God hates us all."

Todd didn't look up to see if Scott was joking or not. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"I can't help but feel it should have ended differently, though." Scott continued. "I never imagined I'd die like this. Never mind the fact that this was home at one point, and barring the fact that we've got creatures with us more twisted than ourselves, and ignoring the fact that you're with the Brotherhood... it just never came down to me dieing of starvation anywhere near a mountain."

Todd snorted. "I'll say. Whatever happened to all those stories of people eating their boots?" They both paused at that and looked down at their shoes. A pair of black Nikes, though you couldn't tell to look at them, and black... well, Todd insisted they used to be Reeboks.

"I wouldn't eat either of them, though." Scott said faintly, a note of humor actually creeping into his voice. "Plastic and all that stuff. Shoelaces maybe." He scuffed the dirt with his shoe.

"Yeah. And mine used to be white, yo."

"Yours, too? I wasn't gonna say anything."

They both were silent for a moment afterwards before laughter took over them. It ended a moment later when one of the Vulgates stirred. It was Hiva, and he was staring with sightless eyes towards something in the distance. Todd and Scott turned instantly, dropping into defense mode, though they didn't know why. Nothing could be worse than starving to death in the cold. Todd gasped. Standing high above them on a summit that was just out of climbing distance was a solitary figure, just familiar enough to evoke a spark of hope in the two leaders.

"Lucifer?" Todd stared hard for a second and then began waving to the lone figure. "Damn, it took you long enough to show up!" He yelled at him. Todd was startled out of his victory dance by Scott's hand on his shoulder.

"Think about it, Todd. We're trapped in a hole in a mountain. It probably looks like a trap to him. And Todd, we have to consider what will happen if it is. What if this demon knew we were down there and was counting on us to leave with reinforcements. The signs are all there, Todd. We have no place to go. We can't go down or up, so he sits in wait for others to show up to help us."

"A trap? Bait?" Todd repeated, not really registering what Scott was saying.

Scott's face was grim. "Yes. Lucifer can still find the other mutants and do this without us. There's no need to risk everyone's lives."

Todd stared up at the figure so high above them, nestled comfortably. He turned away slowly. Maybe this was their fate-to die here. It seemed that the Fates ruled not just the Vulgates, but humans as well.


	50. Chapter 49

Bayville

(A while before)

"Well." Lucifer said slowly, vaguely aware that he shouldn't comment on how lousy the location was. "It is a powerful landscape. I suppose it is even inspiring." He thought about that for a moment and decided that, yes, it was very inspiring. "I am inspired. I have decided I like this Bavil."

"It isn't funny." Bobby whispered with a hint of something dark creeping into his voice.

"My people do not acknowledge humor." Lucifer intoned, vaguely miffed. "I am attempting to alleviate the tension. I have no idea what's gotten into you, but it is disturbing."

"Not as disturbing as finding a mountain where your home should be."

"I wouldn't know. My kind does not settle in droves." Lucifer's voice was icy enough to catch even Bobby's attention. "Now is not the time for nonsense. Set your emotions aside for now and consider what happened to the people within your city. Did they have time to escape?" Everyone's attention was on Lucifer now. "It is highly unlikely. Besides that, Valzinameku is still wandering around. How many other places has he deformed like this? We have no idea and we won't until you can detach yourself from this shock and get on to more important things. For instance, food, shelter and clothing more appropriate to the climate."

Logan growled softly. "He's got a point. Besides, I smell something familiar... and blood, too." Logan stalked forward, testing the air cautiously, not yet able to discern what he smelled. Behind him, Lucifer was coaxing the others away from hysteria.

"If there are people who survived, where would they go?" Lucifer asked. "Are there any large predators out here that may endanger us? Where do you suppose that came from? It looks recent." Logan had tuned Lucifer out, but the Vulgate's last question stirred something in the back of his mind. Logan turned around to see the Vulgate staring at a point just beyond where Logan was standing. The mutant turned back and instantly focused on the thing that had attracted Lucifer's attention- an arrow scratched in the trunk of a tree. Logan's mind churned as he tried to remember what the scent accompanying the blood could possibly be. Then, suddenly, it occurred to him. "Victor Creed." Logan whispered.

Kitty, who had wandered off to the side whimpered. "Oh my God, oh my God, tell me that's not what it looks like."

Logan whirled around, fully expecting to see a dead body. Instead it was a purple-ish black lump lying in the grass. It looked like a half deflated water balloon.

"What's it look like?" Lance asked as he picked it up. "A balloon?" He tossed from one hand to the other a few times for good measure and then hurled it against a tree. It exploded, as expected, but instead of with a clear rain of water, with a splash of pink chunks and more dark purple.

There was an extremely strained silence as Lance looked from the tree to his hand and back again.

"Gnnk. Shhh." Ororo choked out.

"Oh dear." Lucifer whispered. "That didn't help at all."

Jean grabbed onto the nearest person and clung like a bad rep. Pietro, who was the unfortunate soul, didn't even notice that his arm was about to fall off from lack of blood. He wasn't noticing anything except that vital organs lying around the place didn't even disturb him anymore.

"Oh sick, man. That was so gross. You just picked it up and hauled it at the tree. What if you get something... you know..." Bobby inched closer to one of the many pale globs of sundered flesh with a morbidly curious look on his face. Logan grabbed him by the back of the neck and steered him away. Remy was steadfastly ignoring the whole thing. Kitty and Wanda were huddled together casting glances from the ground to Lance to the tree and back.

Ororo delicately pried Jean-Paul off of her and took a few shuddering breaths. "Perhaps we should go now." She said as she took the frozen Lorna by the arm and steered her away.

"Good idea." Logan muttered as he collected Bobby and Alex and shoved them in her direction.

"We should look around." Lucifer said softly as the last of the children left with Remy, Mystique and Ororo.

"Just what I was thinking." Logan said. After a moment's thought, Lucifer fanned his wings out. The feathers became metal and his fingertips hardened. Logan nodded and prepared for a confrontation as well. They carefully searched the area, but, except for finding a scattering of more organs, they found nothing.

The two of them were on their way back to where Ororo was waiting with the other mutants when Logan stiffened. "We're being watched." He muttered, pretending to not notice the pair of eyes that bore into his back.

"Not by anything that could cause us significant harm." Lucifer returned in a cautious whisper.

Logan's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by 'significant harm'?"

"If they were to fall on us, I suppose it would hurt, but they seem to be content to rot where they are."

"Who?" Logan glanced around.

"Them." Lucifer pointed up to a wild looking tree some distance away from them. It was on the outskirts of what looked like an impenetrable forest.

"I don't see." Logan said while he strained his eyes. Lucifer walked up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned in close to measure along Logan's line of sight.

"There." He pointed again and this time, Logan saw it far in the distance, past the tree, deeper in the forest.

A head.

Logan growled and started towards the forest, but Lucifer pulled him back. "Are you insane?" He demanded, but Logan wasn't hearing it. "Look again, and pay attention to detail. We should not go near that forest."

Lucifer was stronger than he looked. Since Logan made no headway against him and probably wouldn't unless he felt like losing an arm, he looked closer.

It wasn't just a head, it was half of a human body that was lodged up in the tree. Someone had stuffed it in a hole in the tree and literally left the body to rot. "I thought you Vulgates don't mess around with humor." Logan muttered.

Lucifer released his hold on Logan. "My funny bone broke and I have to wear a sarcasm splint. Watch carefully now or you'll miss it."

Logan focused on the body and saw the hole in the tree open a little more. A trio of branches wrapped around the body and pushed it further in the hole before they unwound and the hole closed down on it. "Talk about carnivorous plants..." Logan's eye twitched.

Lucifer, of course, didn't get it. "I don't know much about them actually. Hmmm, where is this Carnivorous?"

Logan looked at Lucifer and tried to gauge if the Vulgate's splint was in overdrive or if he was being serious.

"He made those." Logan opted to ignore Lucifer's comment.

"Yes. He did." Lucifer nodded, knowing exactly who Logan was talking about. "However, that does not explain how those... what did you call them? Balloons?"

"Oh no... those were not balloons." Logan shook his head viciously. "Those were hearts and things."

"Really?" Lucifer's interest piqued.

Logan frowned. "Yeah, and don't look so excited about it."

Lucifer crouched down to take a closer look at one of the purple masses on the ground. "I've never seen a human heart before."

"Most folks think that's a good thing." Logan kicked the organ, which was actually a lung. "Well it's obvious that whoever did this is gone."

"Of course. They headed in that direction." Lucifer pointed away from the forest.

Logan stared in the distance and then at Lucifer. "What?"

Lucifer shrugged and examined another organ. "The arrow was pointing that way as well."

Logan's eye twitch was back. "What? How do you know?"

"It was clearly-"

"Not the arrow." Logan growled.

Lucifer's claws retracted and his wings folded with a whisper. "Oh. I just assumed since the footprints-"

"Where?"

Lucifer clucked his tongue and shook his head disapprovingly. "Do you mind? I'm trying to complete a sentence."

"None of your bull, where?" Logan's adamantium claws slid in and out of his hands and he struggled to contain his frustration.

Lucifer, in an increasingly typical move, ignored Logan's overtly threatening attitude. "The problem with humans is that they get too emotional over things that emotion can only worsen," he said to himself.

For Logan, it was the last straw. "SHUT UP! WHERE! TELL ME NOW!"

Finally, Lucifer responded. "I will not tell you anything until you calm down." Logan did not take the comment well, but Lucifer stood- impassive and unconcerned- before Logan's fury. The mutant was so tense that he was actually trembling and his face was twisted into a menacing scowl. Lucifer sighed. "Between the two of us, we are doomed. Nine children, half are too frightened to do anything but panic, except for the fact that they are too tired to properly panic and they end up just standing there... Five adults to watch over them. The only one besides me who has a level head is just as tired and frightened as the children. Two of your party are former criminals who teamed up with you out of necessity... Logan, you and I are the only sources of sanity these people have now. I need not explain to you what this will do to the children. The least we can do is boost their confidence by being the rock they brace themselves on." Lucifer noted that Logan had stopped trembling. "Logan. It is a lot of responsibility. I do not have what it takes to connect with them. I need you as a medium. You have to find a balance. What good are you to me if you run off and throw a tantrum every time I refuse to tell you something that you think you need to know?" Lucifer's voice became soothing. "Trust me, if it's important, I shall know and if I know it will be hard for you, I shall work you up to a point where you can handle it."

"Is this one of those times?" Logan asked tiredly.

Lucifer sighed. "Yes. We should circle around the city for now and try to find a place to recover. I will go by air and find a building. You find a way to get everyone into the city. I will make sure the city is cleared."

Logan grunted and turned away.

"By the way," Lucifer spread his wings. "Stay away from any people you see wandering around here." Logan whirled around to see Lucifer already in the air. "Nothing is certain but what we bring with us."

Logan stood staring at the sky for a long time after Lucifer left, wondering what such a warning could possibly mean. Were there people still alive and moving around, or had Valzinameku set up a trap for any survivors? Logan looked back at the man-eating tree, which was in the middle of stuffing more of its victim into its trunk. At the rate the tree was eating, the body would be gone in a few hours.

All the way back to the rest of the X-Men, Logan worried. He found the rext of the mutants huddled together at the top of a slight rise. Logan stood with them silently for a moment, taking in the ring of mountains that surrounded what was once Bayville.

"Hey, Logan? Where's Lucifer?" Pietro asked in a solemn tone.

Logan fixed his attention on Quicksilver and saw the hopeful light shining behind his eyes. "He's," Logan's voice cracked as he realized what Pietro wanted to hear. "He's gone to find the others. And a place to stay." Logan thought his words sounded flat and fake, but Pietro gave a weary grin.

"Others? Todd? Todd's here?" Bobby butted in.

Logan looked at the ground. "We think so. Lucifer said to stay away from anyone you see wandering around here, though. Don't know what's goin' on so we might as well not fall into a trap."

"Alright!" Bobby was carrying the news to everyone else. "Lucifer's gone to find Todd! Maybe he knows what's going on."

"Oh yeah," Lorna taunted, face drawn and eyes weary. "If that's such good news, why isn't Logan happy too?"

"Lorna." Wanda reprimanded her, but the moment was lost.

Silence descended again. "L-Logan?" Jean asked timidly.

"We need to split into groups." He said after a moment. "We're looking for a way into the city. You guys are mutants too, right?" He asked Lorna and Alex.

Lorna sniffed. "Yep. My power is magnetism. Like Magneto. Alex can absorb sunlight and convert it to plasma blasts."

"Okay. Storm and Alex will be our beacons. No matter what, they have to stay in one piece. If anything goes wrong, they'll be our guide to you. That makes you two the dead weights. Don't waste your energy in a fight unless you absolutely have to. You just keep sending up signals." Everyone nodded their understanding. "Alright," Logan looked over the mutants. "Bobby, Lance, Raven, Wanda, Jean and the guy with the shades- you go with Ororo."

The teen snorted. "The name's Northstar, or if that's too hard for you, Jean-Paul."

Logan ignored the comment. "Make sure you don't lose those shades, Slim. I don't wanna confuse you with Pietro. The rest of you are with me. Once you find a way in, back away from it. Send a signal and we'll come as fast as we can."

"Likewise." Bobby said with a grin. "C'mon troops, you heard the man. March!" Logan smiled at Bobby's antics as the two groups parted ways. The moment etched itself into his mind: Bobby was prancing around the others until Mystique hit him over the head and threatened to skin him. Lance muttered that she didn't have anything to skin him with and Wanda suggesting Mystique form a crude knife from his bone fragments. Ororo and Jean turned once to wave goodbye and some of the kids waved back. Then it was over and Alex's group headed in the other direction seeking consolation in the fact that they still had Logan with them.

Some consolation that was, since Logan was just as confused and desperate as they were.


	51. Chapter 50

Bayville

Todd sighed once more and turned around to continue pacing in the other direction. It was warming up a little since the sun was directly above. There were no clouds in the sky at all and Todd paused to stare up at the pale sky. Silence rained from the weak blue heavens and here he was without an umbrella.

"It isn't supposed to be like this." Todd complained. His voice sounded far too loud and echoed through the canyon.

"It never is." A soft voice whispered to Todd. "We can help if you let us stay."

Todd looked around and, upon seeing the vast expanse of nothingness and mountains, looked down, half expecting the voice to be a figment of his imagination. Instead, he found himself staring into the bright blue eyes of a blonde boy, maybe 11 years old or thereabout. Beside him was another boy with reddish brown hair and equally blue eyes, though the look on the brunette was much more mature than the blonde.

"How did you get here?" Todd asked warily.

The blonde grinned. "The portal."

Todd frowned at the child's attitude. "Portal?"

"Yes."

Todd looked back at the group of huddled forms of the remaining mutants and Vulgates. "Either help us or kill us all quickly. You can stay with us as long as you want."

The blonde boy smirked and looked to his friend. "Alright. Glive, you ready?"

"Of course, Zieet. I would never tell you that I wasn't ready." The second boy spread his hands wide and tapped his fingers as though he was typing on a keyboard. "Go ahead and build the staircase."

Todd watched as the blonde boy braced himself and held his hands towards the steep face of the rock. Todd imagined he saw a faint shimmer in the air and suddenly the silence was broken by a grinding sound. Stone fell downwards and burst from the ground as the rock face and stony ground were both rearranged into the form of a rough staircase.

"Nice," Todd nodded and called to the mutants who were all staring blankly at the rock face. "Scott, Haiden. Get everyone up. We're getting out of here now."

Scott called back to Todd a few seconds later. "No can do. I think a few people here are frozen in place." Hiva had pulled himself up, looking deathly white and blue. He muttered something to the three Vulgates who couldn't move, straightened, and shook his head.

"We promised that we'd take care of you if you took care of us." The blonde kid said with a grin. Todd focused on the boys again.

"What are your names?"

"K'vas-ten nec Zieet, and this is K'mas-ten nec Glive."

Todd stared at the pair of them for a minute. "Kay who? Oh." He nodded as the boy's words sank in. "You're Vulgates?"

Zieet, the blonde grinned again. "Of course."

"Oh. I knew that. Are you doing something to the temperature?" Todd was beginning to feel warmer and had pins and needles all over his body.

"Yep." Zieet glared around him. "Make it fast, Glive. This crater bothers me."

The brunette made no indication that he would obey. "Patience is a virtue, Zieet."

With a scowl, Zieet spat back a reply. "What did I tell you about those blasted quotes?"

"Those who do not comprehend respond with violence." Glive intoned while his friend glared poison laced daggers at him. "Those who comprehend laugh at those who don't and make them do all the work."

Zieet stalked away to join the rest of the group with one last scowl and a heartfelt oath.

Glive flashed a grin at his friend's receding back. "I'm done. We can go now."

Todd gaped at Glive. "That's it? Just like that? You two kids pop up out of nowhere and make things better?"

Glive smiled serenely. "You have to understand, we brought supplies and since you pretty much cleared the way for us, we didn't have to fight either."

Todd frowned. "You were following us?"

The Vulgate had the decency to look embarrassed. "Ah, well. Yes. We were."

"And you just came out?" Todd's frown deepened as he thought of what else could have followed them.

Glive was over his embarrassment in an instant. "Yes. We waited just in case we got caught. We really didn't know you needed us before we came up here. But like I was saying-"

Something clicked in Todd's head. "You two are nobles. That's what K'mas means right? You shouldn't be up here." Todd glanced at Hiva, who was glowering at a thoroughly cowed Zieet.

Glive shrugged. "You can't send us back now."

"Hmm. I can't." Todd said with a wicked grin and a significant glance towards the rest of the group.

Glive looked slightly perturbed. "But... you may need our help again. You still aren't in any position to defend yourselves. Let us help."

Todd nodded his approval. "You're one smooth talker, kid. Alright. Keep up." He headed towards the newly formed stairs where Scott was waiting for him.

Scott stared down at the short Vulgate, who blinked up at him. He turned to Todd. "What happened? Who are those kids? Hiva was pretty upset when he saw them here." Glive smiled sweetly at Scott and began climbing the stairs.

"Two nobles," was all Todd said, but it was enough. He and Scott followed Glive up the stairs to join the rest of the group.

Scott groaned. "We're gonna get it for this."

Glive, who was steadily climbing just slow enough to eavesdrop, turned his head around. "It's okay. We plan on staying here. We're running away." Over his shoulder, Todd and Scott could see the first Vulgates had reached the top of the stairs and were gathering as if they didn't know what to do next.

"He can talk?" Scott asked Todd and then pushed the boy up the stairs faster so he and Todd could sort things out at the top.

"Apparently so." Todd answered in a bemused tone. Even with Scott egging him on, Glive was moving as slowly as possible so he could listen in.

Scott shook his head and hoisted Glive over his shoulder. "Why? I thought that Felin was the only one who knew English." With Glive out of the way, the two mutants moved much faster.

"Oh, I learned and then I taught Zieet." Glive's voice drifted from behind them. The small Vulgate twisted out of Scott's grasp. Before Scott could even react, Glive was racing up the last few stairs to stare at the landscape with his elders.

Todd was close behind. "Who did you learn from?"

Glive shrugged. "Evan."

"Evan?"

Glive elbowed his way to where Zieet was standing with Hiva. "Yeah. It was easy to pick up the language from him."

Todd and Scott looked at each other.

"Forget I asked." Scott muttered.

They both glanced at the two kids as they worked their way to the front of the crowd. Glive was smiling disarmingly and babbling something in Vulgate to Hiva, who just looked madder. Zieet was glaring at the ground as if it had somehow wronged him.

"We'll save it for later. We need shelter and food right now." Todd said wearily.

"Any ideas?" Scott asked him. "I think we could check out the old skatepark. A bomb blew up in there once and not even the decor was messed up. It's probably still standing."

Todd snickered. The skatepark had had so many bombs set off in it that it had no decor. Scott had probably never been inside, which was why he assumed someone had bothered to decorate the concrete park.

"What?" Scott asked. As he looked from Todd to Evan, both of whom were grinning like sharks.

"Nothing, but that's a good idea. To the skatepark."


	52. Chapter 51

Lucifer

Lucifer looked down on the crowd in the valley. He paused when he saw the Vulgates. Where had they come from? He searched the valley some more and spotted the hole just as the two young Vulgates peered out. Lucifer glanced at Todd to see if the mutant had noticed the two new arrivals, but he was pacing restlessly by himself, completely unaware. Lucifer watched as one Vulgate child nudged his friend and approached Todd.

Lucifer inched away from the spot that he had occupied for much of the night and stood in quiet contemplation. He had found Todd; his every instinct screamed that the figures huddled below him were not enemies, and with the help of the new Vulgates, it would have been easy to get the rest of the mutants in the city. On the other hand, banding up with Todd and his large group just meant that they'd all have to split up again and from what he gathered from Logan and Jean, every single one of the people he was looking at was supposed to be dead. The humans wouldn't take being split up again very well.

Lucifer stood and thought, weighing both options carefully. He had an awful suspicion that the choice he made would determine whether his companions lived or died.

For once, that meant something to him.

Storm's Group

"All I'm saying is that it could work." Bobby muttered to himself. He had been arguing with himself for the past half hour of cold trudging. No one else had commented on his talking to himself. They were all either not paying attention, or grateful to hear any noise at all.

The browns and grays of their surroundings had taken on a vampiric quality after the first hour of travel. It sucked up all the color from the world, and with the color, all feeling disappeared. Gone were the occasional sparks of hope that accompanied a tiny patch of green grass. The mutants were covered in grime so thick that it covered the stink of their bodies and between the cold and monotonous surroundings, they were all too drained to notice that their feet hurt, their fingers were frozen and their stomachs were empty. Indeed, Bobby's rants were a welcome relief because as annoying as he was, he was more interesting than the nothingness that surrounded them.

Bobby was beyond caring as well. The quiet was unnatural, uncomfortable, and above all, unnecessary. He wanted to talk to someone about everything that had happened. A sense of suffocating had descended upon him in the brain-choking silence and he struggled to combat it by talking to himself out loud. This death march was like nothing he had ever been forced to endure, except maybe history class last year. Things had finally calmed down, in a sense, but no one was willing to come to terms with the past few weeks. The X-Men were clinging desperately to the impossible: that the Professor was not dead and would call upon some untapped resources to save his students, that with enough perseverance and clever tricks, they could defeat this impossibly powerful enemy that had burst into their lives from right underneath their feet, that somewhere above was a god who was simply taking its time preparing a miracle to make everything the way it used to be. Understanding what was going on became a waste of time in the light of these hopes, these pointless but beautiful trinkets of the mind and heart that dangled, well-worn, but not dusty, over the cold mantle that was Bayville.

"What could work?" Bobby heard someone ask.

He shrugged and answered. "I have subthermal control. Technically speaking, I could do something about the temperature, right? I mean, it's not cold to me, but everyone else is freezing, right?"

"Why not try it then?"

Bobby gave a short laugh. "Because we're supposed to save our energy."

The voice was silent for a minute. "Is that why you're walking though the cold?"

"Nah. We're ou-" Bobby paused. He turned quickly to his companions. "Jean? Did you hear that?" He glanced at her.

Jean Grey sighed. "Bobby, all I can hear is you talking to yourself. Don't drag me into the conversation too."

Bobby stopped walking and looked around frantically. "Someone's watching us then. They just asked why we're walking in the cold."

"Bobby... Look I understand that you're bored but-" Jean's voice was drowned out by the strange voice.

"Who's that?" It asked.

Bobby looked up at the sky, as that seemed to be where the mysterious voice was coming from. "That's Jean. She's just tired that's all."

Jean stared at Bobby for a moment and then gasped. "He's right. There's a telepath nearby. I heard them just now."

"Friend?" Storm asked as everyone stopped and looked around for the stranger.

Jean put her hands to her temple. "I can't tell. I can't tell where they are, but I just heard them."

Mystique frowned. "How long were you talking to this person, Bobby?"

"Not long." He looked around bewildered. "I thought it was one of you guys until they asked why we were walking in the cold, that's all. I didn't mean it."

"Shut up. Right now we need to find out where they are." She stared at the mountains surrounding them. There was no way of knowing how many people were hiding in there.

"Inside." The voice said. "We're inside the city. Your name's Bobby, huh. Is your nickname 'Iceman', cause if it is, then it's a good thing I found you."

"Jean..." Bobby whispered.

"Keep him talking. I'm trying to find him." She whispered back. Jean Grey and Bobby stood unmoving, as everyone else but Storm headed towards the foot of the mountains to search for the stranger. Jean was focusing so hard that she didn't even notice that everyone left.

"Why? Why were you looking for me?" Bobby asked shakily.

"Scott mentioned that there were other people who would probably be headed towards this place. I wanted to find you first. There's an underground cave near one of the entrances to the city. You can't go anywhere near there. It's got some kind of gas in it. If you walk over one of the soft spots it might collapse and blow you to little pieces."

"Where?" Jean asked as Bobby explained the situation to Storm. "Where's the entrance with the cave?" Storm dashed to retrieve the rest of the mutants before they triggered the gas explosion.

"Hang on." There was silence for a moment and none of the mutants dared breathe. "Oh it's okay. You're nowhere near it. It's in the other direction."

"No." Jean gasped. "LOGAN!"

"What?" The voice sifted through Bobby's panic. "What's a Low gan?"

Logan

"Bingo. Start sending up the signal, Alex. We've found ourselves an entrance." Logan pronounced with an air of finality. Pietro and Kitty began jumping up and down singing praises while Alex braced himself to shoot his flare.

"_NO! LOGAN!"_

The force of the telepathic message brought Logan to his knees just as the flare went up. It sparked and its light spread like a firework from hell.

It sounded like one, too.

Logan was just beginning to stand when he felt a strange rumble beneath his knees. A low pitched whistle started and he jumped to his feet to find the source. Three feet away from Kitty, a small chunk of earth exploded upwards. Everyone started and stared at the spot. There were three more explosions, all in different areas.

"Yikes!" Pietro yelped and zipped behind Logan.

"You smell that?" Logan asked the others.

"Smells like gas." Remy muttered.

There was a long, strained silence.

"I guess we'll be going then." Pietro grinned nervously.

"I guess we will."

They looked at each other and, as one, the whole group began running.

Storm's Group

"This is terrible, we have to do something. We have to..." Jean was on the verge of panic.

"Hey, wasn't that the flare?" Lance asked. An enormous explosion that sent dirt and rocks flying everywhere answered him.

"Northstar and Drake, you two go check it out. Jean, keep working on that other telepath. We have to know if there's anyone else around here." Storm took charge of the group. "The rest of you can start looking for shelter. We'll work out the detail of food a little later."

"Yes sir, boss lady." Bobby saluted.

"Get him out of here." Mystique growled at Northstar. There was a blur and gust of wind and the two of them were gone.

"This keeps getting worse." Lance muttered.

"Doesn't it." Wanda stated flatly. "As bad as it is, it could be worse. We could be ordinary humans."

"I wonder what happened to all of them."

Mystique interrupted their musings. "I think I'd rather not know. Go find shelter. I'll guard Jean."

They split up, but no one ventured too far from Mystique and Jean. They all knew without a doubt that if they got lost they were as good as dead.

They all knew that they weren't alone in that vast wilderness.


	53. Chapter 52

Victor Creed

"This is getting old." Creed muttered to himself.

They were still traveling and killing everything in their wake, but sadly, Victor finally had to admit... killing was only fun if you had to work for it. Humans, mutants, everyone fell before the army of monsters. The pitiful creatures didn't even scratch Victor or his subordinates. Maybe if Logan had shown up it would have been a bit more interesting, but he was nowhere to be found and Victor hadn't heard anything about the X-Men since Xavier died. For all he knew there was absolutely no one out there worth killing anymore.

"I mean, even I have standards. This is wrong."

Victor Creed looked around. Valzinameku had gone ahead with those damned minions of his and left the soldiers to clean up the mess.

That was how that son of A put it. "Cleaning up." Victor would have laughed if he weren't so disgusted. He wondered briefly how strong Valzinameku was and immediately came up with a plan to alleviate his boredom.

"You there, get your ass over here!" Victor called to one of the soldiers. It bounded up the hill Victor stood on and waited for its orders.

Victor looked the thing up and down.

"I want you to send a message to the boss. Tell him that Creed went crazy and started killing all the soldiers."

The messenger blinked twice and nodded. As soon as it was out of Creed's line of sight, he set his plan in motion.

And yeah, it was going to be the likes of which no one, not even the X-Men, could top. There was just one problem left to solve.

Like finding that damned Wolverine so he could brag about his brilliance.

Alex's Group

"Arise, my companions. We must reach the others soon."

Logan moaned and swore half-heartedly before he sat up slowly. He looked around briefly for the source of the annoyingly perky voice and found himself staring in the bright green eyes of Lucifer.

"What happened?" Logan asked weakly. His healing factor was working hard, but there was a strange pain in his stomach that was kicking ass.

Lucifer's gaze wavered for a moment. He knelt beside Logan and braced one hand on his chest. There was a sickening ripping noise and suddenly the pain was gone.

"You were unfortunate victims of a gas explosion." Lucifer answered as he tossed away a bloody rock that was shaped like a javelin. "We must move soon. Pietro needs attention."

"Damn Brotherhood brat. Of course he does." Logan made it to his feet. "How is everyone?"

"Of course you and Kitty are unharmed. Lorna survived by erecting a wall of some sort of metal around herself. Pietro was severely injured but managed to get enough distance between himself and the debris to survive. He tried to carry Alex with him, though, and got slowed down."

Logan stumbled towards the spot where Lorna and Kitty were crouched over Pietro and Alex. "Alex... and Remy? What happened to them?"

Lucifer hesitated for the briefest of moments. "Alex is alive, but barely. I sincerely doubt he will live through this."

"And Remy? Don't tell me he..." Logan let the sentence hang. Lucifer met his gaze for a second and then sighed.

"Logan. We have to get moving. He's dead and we cannot do anything about that. If we don't get moving now, Pietro and Alex will die for sure. We can mourn later." Lucifer turned away from Logan and picked up Alex. His head was plastered with blood and a corner of a rock was just visible beneath his matted hair. "I can carry two people, so Kitty will travel with me. We definitely won't break any speed records, but we'll move faster this way." Lucifer spread his wings wide and looked back at Remy. "If you want, we can cover him with rocks and bury him later."

"No, you're right. We've got to worry about the living." Logan muttered gruffly.

"Come along then. We should go." After Kitty had wrapped her arms around his neck and positioned herself so she wouldn't interfere with Lucifer's wings, the Vulgate took off.

"Logan..." Lorna whispered. "I'm scared. Why is our luck so bad all of a sudden?"

Logan shook his head. "I'm not sure." A strong wing picked up and howled across the torn landscape.

With it, a single feather was carried away.

Iceman and Northstar

Jean-Paul skidded to a stop and generously gave Bobby his space, space which the X-Man used to throw up the last of what looked like a candy bar of some kind.

Once Bobby recovered, he shakily stood and surveyed the area with Northstar.

There wasn't much to see except, oh, Remy's mangled arm lying about five feet from his head, which was also missing a body.

"I guess we got here too late." Jean-Paul cleared his throat. "Maybe we can catch up with them, but we don't know which way they went."

Bobby sighed deeply and turned around. "Well, Pietro's probably on his way to our group now. They'll most likely be following him."

"That's actually not very likely. They must be hiding around here somewhere. I mean think about it, someone's bound to be injured," Jean-Paul frowned. "Why risk it when they knew we'd come to see why they sent the flare up. They're around here somewhere."

"Why don't we just follow the blood?" Bobby knelt down by a sticky patch on a rock and followed the trail it left with his eyes.

"Blood?" Jean-Paul followed his gaze. "Well, that's a start. C'mon." He grabbed Bobby and took off after the trail.

Three miles later, the trail ended at Alex's body.

Storm's Group

"Why is it taking them so long? They should be back by now." Mystique took a deep breath and willed herself to stop worrying.

"Relax, Boss Lady. We're back now." Jean-Paul let Bobby slip to the ground again and shrugged at the look the other mutants gave him. "He's just not used to light-speed, I guess."

"So what happened?" Lance sat down on the ground and leaned against a rock. Without a word, Storm and Wanda sat next to him and focused what little attention they could on Northstar.

"I dunno, gas explosion, I think. They left. We followed a trail for a while, but it was a… dead end." Jean Paul smirked slightly.

"You sick bastard." Bobby growled as he struggled to his feet. "Remy was blown to bits. We followed a trail of blood for a while. That dead end was Alex. After we found his body we lost track of where the others went. If they had kept going straight, they would have run straight into the wall that surrounds the other half of the city. They just disappeared."

"No one just disappears." Storm frowned. "Either way, that means we're down two people and Logan has no one to signal us with."

"Hang on, you mean to say that Pietro hasn't stopped by here yet?" Jean-Paul asked incredulously. "Where would he have gone?"

"Too many questions. We still haven't found that other telepath and there's no point in forcing anyone to find shelter. We couldn't get them to if it was right in front of us. We're all too tired and cold to bother with anything but dying." Mystique looked at Jean, who was still searching for the telepath. Both of them looked like they would topple over any second.

"I guess that's it then. We just sit here and die." Bobby looked around at the seven mutants. "We just leave the fighting to the people who can survive and we don't bother trying anymore."

Lance groaned. "Bobby, it's not like we want to die. We can't do anything about it."

"Yes, we can." Bobby surveyed the group again. "Okay, no, we can't, but we can try. Look, I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna find the others. You can stay here and die if you want, but I'm an X-Man, and if I die, I'll die like Dr. McCoy." Bobby backed up and headed in the direction he thought Bayville would be." Standing up. Not even death is going to stop me from protecting the people I care about. I hope you rest in peace." He called over his shoulder.

The last of the mutants watched his solitary figure disappear into the distance.

"I wonder where Lucifer is. I found one of his cousins. Little guy was dead though." Wanda muttered, holding up a brown feather. "I hope he's okay."

"Lemme see that." Lance reached for the feather. "Where'd you find this?"

"Remember that rock that you said looked like an upside down pencil?"

"Yeah... that one..."

Wanda took the feather back and stroked the ground with its tip. "It was sticking out the bottom. I guess the bird was crushed by the rock."

Lance squinted his eyes at the pale sun. "You serious?"

"Yep."

Lance took the feather from Wanda once more and ran a finger along the edge of it. He held it up in the air and let the wind take it away. "I guess this is it." He stood with a grunt.

"I guess so." Wanda whispered.

"I'll be seeing you." He promised as he followed the feather.

Wanda didn't answer. No one answered.

No one cared.


	54. Chapter 53

Bobby Drake

Bobby, the Iceman, fell to his knees with a halfhearted sob. "Up..." he coached himself. "Stand up..."

"C'mon kid." Something pulled on Bobby's sleeve and he looked at it. There was Lance, looking as weary and worn as Bobby felt. "We'll do this together. C'mon. You said you'd die standing up, right? So let's go, X-Man." Lance pulled Bobby to his feet.

"You came." Bobby whispered.

Lance grinned. "Yeah, Kitty's waiting for me. Keep up or we'll lose our guide."

Bobby looked around. "Guide? What guide?"

"Evan. Or maybe Phoenix. Depends on your point of view. Moving..." Lance plodded forward, taking a step with every word, almost as if he was walking through sheer will power. "We are ... moving. C'mon Bobby. Walk with me here." A fierce gust of wind caused the feather to double back, circle the two mutants and continue forward. "Work walk... Am I making any sense?"

"No," Bobby laughed weakly. "But it's better than nothing."

Suddenly, it hit Bobby how cold and tired and hungry he was. Why were they following a stupid feather? Why were they chasing the wind? Bobby stopped, overcome by the weight that had choked him for so long. Lance didn't even pause. Even starved, freezing and possibly insane, he was still stronger than Bobby, and simply dragged the smaller mutant along, steadily muttering nonsense to himself.

"Look, there's the feather. Follow the feather. The feather is your friend. Friend feather. "Cold. Ferry ferry cold. Very. Wait." Lance lurched to a halt and let go of Bobby.

Bobby shook his head. "But, you said..."

Lance growled. "And I changed my mind again. I don't wanna walk anymore."

The wind stopped and the feather dropped to the ground in front of them. Bobby, confused by Lance's sudden change in positions, tugged on Lance's sleeve. "But Lance-"

"Fine shut up." Lance cracked his knuckles. "We're walking, see." As if on cue, the wind lifted the feather like a carrot on a stick and led them forward.

So it went. The two of them followed the feather, one laborious step at a time. Once again a strong breeze picked up. It blew sand and ash into the mutants' eyes, but they kept going. Momentarily blinded, they slowed down and, ludicrously, Lance called for the feather. "Feather friend?"

Bobby wiped his watering eyes. "I think we've finally lost it."

Lance coughed up soot. "We'll find him again. I know we will." He grimaced and resumed calling the feather.

"I'm not talking about the feather," Bobby muttered.

"Oh. Wait, feather!" Lance stumbled forward and grabbed it.

"Pardon, but do you mind letting go?" A strange voice asked.

Lance dropped the feather, which was actually a handful of white feathers, and backed away. "Yeah, I think we lost it too."

A dim light appeared before the two mutants. "Hey, are you lost?" The light illuminated a boy, no more than thirteen years old with bright blue eyes.

"Bobby?" Lance asked and looked at his companion. "Are we lost?"

Bobby gritted his teeth, suspicious of the strange child. "Uh, yeah, very lost."

The light grew brighter and the two mutants finally noticed the silvery-white wings on their savior's back. "Bobby? You are Bobby?" The stranger grinned like a maniac. "How fortunate! I've been looking for you. Now that I've found you, we can go back and I won't get in trouble."

"What?" Lance stared at the kid.

The boy stepped closer to Lance and Bobby, nodding his head enthusiastically as he spoke. "I am K'mas-ten nec Glive. You should come with me. Lucifer is waiting for us. Isn't he incredible? He said I'm not supposed to tell any of the others about him, he's supposed to be a secret, but since you already know about him it's okay."

The boy's speech was broken by strange pauses that reminded Bobby of something important. "Are you that guy who was talking to me earlier?" He asked.

"You mean yesterday? Yep, that was me. You must have wandered too far for me to reach you anymore because all of a sudden you went quiet." Glive looked from one mutant to the other. "Say, let's get you two in the city. Then I can talk to K'vas nec Hiva and we'll go get the rest of you guys."

Lance blinked twice and then sat down on the dirt. "Feather?" He looked up at Glive as if his heart had been rendered in two.

"No feather." Glive said as he knelt by Lance.

Lance struggled to catch up. "Feather friend gone?"

Glive gently tugged Lance back to his feet while quietly murmuring something foreign. "Yes." He finally answered Lance, "The feather is gone. You can have one of mine if you want."

Lance swayed like a sapling in a storm and then violently shook his head. "Okay. So what are we doing?" Bobby's stared at the kid in bewilderment.

Glive smiled brightly. "We're going to get you some help."

Lance nodded and stroked his chin. "Help... help is good."

"Yep," Glive agreed. "But I'm better. If you can walk just a little bit further, I can get help for you."

Lance seemed to shrug off his exhaustion and started forward. "Hell, why not, we walked this far. But you have to promise we'll go back for the others." Lance glared at the kid. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Glive asked, genuinely curious.

"Or else I'll dump you back in that hole and bury you in the dark forever."

Glive laughed. "It is agreed then, vicious human, I shall not deceive you." He and Bobby followed Lance to what looked like a blank expanse of stone.

"Damn straight." Lance growled. "Cause once I get better, someone's gonna have hell to pay for this mess."

The rock face twisted into a stair case. "Someone always has to pay." Glive agreed philosophically. "Maybe you'll get lucky and find someone to pick up the bill." Glive smiled. "Or else you better have really deep pockets."

Bobby snorted. "Who's side are you on?"

Glive's smile disappeared. "I'm on the side that's going to win, because whichever side I'm on always wins. Don't worry about it. We'll take care of you."

Bobby and Lance shared a glance as they ascended the stairs. "Do we really want that?"

Glive's laugh tinkled through the empty air. "Do you have a choice?"

Scott and Todd

The skatepark was, to put it bluntly, indestructible. It had existed since before any of the X-Men, or even the Brotherhood had realized they were mutants. Rumor had it that Professor Xavier used to skate there before he had lost use of his legs. The skatepark was one of the only places in Bayville where you could honestly say that no one cared if you were a mutant or not. Scott Summers, Haiden Malcolm and Kurt Wagner had never set foot in the skatepark.

The concrete construction wasn't so much for skating as it was for extreme sports. No one just skated... they competed. It wasn't uncommon to see rollerbladers racing skateboarders on any number of obstacle courses that could kill an amateur. No one got on the field if they weren't an expert. Newcomers had to pay a fee- to whom was one of the mysteries of the place, and were admitted by invite only. Sometimes, a few brave, or foolish, souls decided to fight. They were thrown out and refused entry whenever they tried to return. No one was allowed to enter if they were drunk or high- no alcohol or drugs of any sort were allowed either. There were no guards or security to check people, but it was generally understood that anyone who saw someone breaking the rule should tell someone else or throw the offenders out. There was no gang rivalry within the confines of the skatepark. The denizens of the skatepark _were _a gang.

Scott, Haiden and Kurt didn't know this.

All they knew was that they were being surrounded and were in no condition to fight back. It was a very bad feeling.

Evan walked up to the tallest of the humans surrounding them and held out his hand for some age-old handshake that the skateparkers used to identify one of their own. "Hey, what's up, man? I hope its okay that I brought a few friends with me."

The tall human stared at Kurt for a moment and then at Scott. "This time, it's cool. There's not really anyplace else to go and this place could survive Armageddon. We could use some financial help though. You know, with things being the way they are."

"Meaning what, Beam?" Evan's voice took on a slight edge.

The guy known as Beam shrugged. "Meaning that it costs money to feed and house a damn army of mutants, especially an injured one."

Scott's eyes narrowed behind his visor. "Who said anything about an army?"

"So you're just gonna let that scum get away with this?" Beam gave Evan a skeptical look.

Evan took it as a challenge, and fiercely responded with "No."

"I thought as much." Beam yawned. "Besides, we know about your little army. I've already sent someone to let them know where we are. They should arrive soon. Until then, you guys should probably look at this. We think we know where the monster came from." Beam turned towards a door that had numerous warnings on it. "And we think we know how to stop it as well."

The mutants glanced at one another and headed for the doorway. Once past the threshold, they paused in the darkness beyond while Beam shut the door gently behind them. The only light was a faint red glow coming from Scott's visor.

Two sets of eyes glowed in the darkness, one gold and one red.

"Hey, are you a mutant?" Kurt asked and his golden eyes narrowed in the silence.

"Think about your situation, mutant, and answer that question yourself."

Haiden turned around in the dark. "Wha-"

Kurt watched his body fall and it suddenly occurred to him that the others couldn't see at all. "No fair..."

Beam, or the creature that looked like him, laughed. "It needn't be fair, mutant. As long as I win, it's alright. Master Valzinameku will not care enough to be pleased, but stories of how you walked right into this trap will amuse him."

"Kurt." There was a slight flash of red light to Kurt's right. "Let me handle this." Kurt followed the voice and smiled. Haiden was still on the ground, so Kurt merely put his hands on Evan and Todd's shoulders and pushed them down. He had just hit the dirt himself and covered his head when a blinding red light filled the small room.

In the silence that followed Beam's tortured howl, the four mutants on the ground heard Scott crack his knuckles and clear his throat. "You guys can get up now. I hit him."

"Wow. That was incredible. You know, you can go first if you like. All this guy's friends are still out there." Haiden wheezed as he stood. "Bastard got me right in the stomach. If I stumbled right before he hit me, I'd probably never stand straight again."

"Well," Scott said thoughtfully, "there's no rush. We need to come up with a plan." His visor glowed faintly.

"Hey, can you see?" Kurt asked.

Scott looked at Kurt. "Of course."

"I mean, in the dark."

Scott's eyebrows rose. "It's dark? I didn't know that. Anyway, we have a minute to breathe so let's do that. What do we know about these people?"

Evan sighed. "Well, I thought they were good guys, but that shows how much I know."

"Not necessarily." Todd muttered. He was still sprawled on the floor. "It just means that someone we thought we knew turned out a little strange. Is he dead?"

"He shouldn't be." Scott answered.

Todd gave a half-hearted 'hmm' and shifted position. "Well, assuming the worst, those people out there are going to try to kill us. Assuming the best, they don't know what's going on in here with Beam going nuts on us. If that's the case, we have nothing to worry about so it doesn't matter. However, if they mean to hurt us..."

"Then they'll come in here in a little while to see what's taking so long. And the Vulgates are in danger as well." Scott followed Todd's logic to its conclusion.

Todd agreed. "Yes. So, assuming the worst, we'll have to either kill or disarm everyone in the skatepark. We'll lose a lot of time doing that."

"But if we can avoid a fight, we can avoid those losses on both sides." Scott offered.

"No dice. We'd have to handle them sooner or later. I'd rather get it over with when our people are feeling something close to human. Or whatever species they are."

Scott shook his head. "People will die, Todd, I can't allow that."

Todd snorted. "People will always die. Think about it this way. We've got no place else to go. We need to hit them hard enough that they get our point."

Haiden cleared his throat. "Our point being..." he let the sentence hang.

"That they can join us or die." Todd supplied. "We don't have to kill all of them, Scott. Just enough that they get afraid and stay out of our way."

Scott was silent for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was strained. "Todd. That is not acceptable. We will not kill anyone."

Todd stood up. "Then let me do it. You X-Men don't have to get involved."

Scott shook his head, forgetting that only Kurt could see him. "When I say 'we' I mean all of us. Until we find the rest of the mutants, we have to stick together."

Todd laughed derisively. "You mean we have to present a united front while we get torn apart internally because you and I really can't agree. How about a compromise? You find a way out of here that avoids getting anyone killed and I'll play along. As soon as you turn your back, I'll run off, slaughter half the people in the skatepark and run to catch up. You ask me where I was, I say I turned around and you were gone. You shrug it off, I don't say anything about it and you guys never find out. How's that?"

Scott's voice was tired. "Todd. No."

"Then what's your idea?"

Scott took a deep breath. "Why don't we just stop and think about what comes after that?"

"Hmm? We leave." Todd shrugged. "What's so hard about that?"

"And where will we go? What will happen when the others show up and see the mess? They'll think we've been possessed and the next thing you know, we'll all have six inches of adamantium shoved down our throats. If we kill these people like it's nothing, what's going to stop us from killing others. The difference between us and them," Scott jabbed a finger at the door, even though Kurt was the only person who could see him. "is that we can solve problems without killing anyone."

"The others?" Todd laughed again. "You talk like anyone else survived." Todd stopped laughed as the atmosphere in the room grew more tense. He sighed. "Scott, do you see this uniform I'm wearing? Tell me how many times you've seen me in it before."

Scott looked at Todd's new uniform. Through the red tinged haze that defined his existence, Scott looked at Todd. The uniform was different. Sleeker, more armored, in fact, the whole get-up seemed a lot more...dangerous.

"I've never seen that uniform before." Scott admitted.

Todd laughed. "Of course not. No one who's ever seen it lived to tell the tale. Scott, I'm at least as smart as you. Mystique didn't pick me up to kill people because I was too stupid to do anything else. If these people stay alive then they'll end up killing more people. All I have to do is kill a few people and the rest will either join us or scatter on the winds."

There was silence as Haiden, Kurt and Evan waited for Scott's response. "And that is supposed to convince me because..."

Todd was losing his patience. It was so like an X-Man to preach about the value of life when their only option was to kill or be killed. "Scott. It's them or us. None of us have Logan's healing factor or immortality. Either give me options, or shut up about moral integrity."

A knock on the door cut off any reply Scott had.

Evan glanced nervously at the direction of the door. "Okay, once this has been handled, what are we going to do? What comes after we get out of here?"

No one answered. "Hey, what are we gonna do? If we have to split paths, we have to have an idea of where everyone's going to be headed." Silence was Evan's only answer. "Please? You guys have been in charge all this time, please..."

Everyone heard a groan as Beam started moving again. Scott ground his teeth and finally answered. "We'll look for the other mutants. Bring them all together and meet... back where it all started. Fort Braddock." Everyone could tell by the faint light that Scott was staring at the door.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan." Todd muttered. There came another knock on the door, this time more insistent. "Open it, Kurt."

Everyone watched Kurt's golden eyes travel across the small room and look back at them. Kurt tugged on the door.

"Uh-oh. It won't open. It's locked." He glanced at the others. "Why are they knocking if it's locked?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a piercing screech. Kurt yelped and stumbled away from the door clutching his left cheek.

"What was that?" Scott yelled and dragged Kurt towards him, while Haiden and Evan spun in a circle looking for the source of the sound.

"Where was it?"

"What happened?"

They heard the noise again and Scott pulled the rest of the mutants away from the door. He crouched in front of them and waited with one hand on his visor. There was another ear-shattering screech and suddenly they could see. Light shone from four jagged tears in the metal door that stood between them and whatever was outside. As they watched, a set of evil-looking claws slipped through the holes and hooked over the torn edge of the door.

"Scott." One of the mutants whispered and clutched his arm.

"Shhh." Scott gently dislodged the hand and focused on the door.

The claws flexed and pierced the metal door. The hand pulled and the already long tears in the door lengthened.

"Scott."

"Shhh."

The claws slipped back out of the door and the mutants held their breath. The dagger of light disappeared as whatever was outside leaned down to look through the door. Scott kneeled slowly so that he was eye level with the hole in the door. He eased his hand to his visor, and prepared to shoot his optic blasts directly at the hole- and, he hoped, at whatever monster was lurking beyond.

The creature outside shuffled to the side and a thin strip of light reappeared. Scott held still. There was a sudden flash, like light glinting off metal before all the light faded once more. Scott held back his fire, wondering whether the person- or creature- outside was a friend or enemy.

It didn't matter because a second later, the claws punctured the door again, this time near the handle. The hand jerked up and down a few times and the mutants heard a faint pop. The claws retreated and the monster backed away.

The mutants were quiet for several minutes. Finally, Scott sighed. "Maybe it hurt itself and went after easier prey."

"Scott." Kurt whispered. "I... I think I'm bleeding."

"What?" Scott whirled around. Kurt was leaning weakly on Evan and clutching his face. "How bad is it?"

"Not very, but if that's an animal out there..."

Scott nodded. An animal would smell the blood, and probably not leave unless it found something a lot easier to catch. Before he could respond, though, he noticed a line of bright light traveling across the room.

"Scott," Haiden whispered. "Do you see..."

Scott spun back around, bringing his hand to his visor, only to be knocked to the ground by something heavy. He landed hard and awkwardly. Scott barely had time to register the terrified screams of his friends before the world went dark.


	55. Chapter 54

Bobby and Lance

"Hmm? Where did you come from, little humans?" K'vas nec Hiva looked kindly at the two battered mutants.

Lance just stared up at the seven foot man. His tired mind was trying to add up clues; the height, fair skin, and especially the wings. After about five minutes of patiently waiting for an answer, Hiva glanced at Glive, who just grinned spiritedly. Hiva sighed, resigned to using the boy as a translator. He was just about to ask for help when the human leaned down and started whispering to its companion. Another look at Glive gave Hiva bad news.

"What are they saying?" He asked. Glive just shrugged and turned towards where Zieet was staring out a window. "Well?"

The answer was reluctant. "I can't understand them. It's not like what the others speak."

Hiva turned back to the humans. They were both staring at him so intensely that it took every ounce of his self control to not fidget.

"Dude. Are you a mutant, 'cause I don't believe in angels and stuff. What's your name?" The taller of the humans squinted at Hiva.

"K'vas nec Hiva. You?"

The humans looked startled and began whispering again. After a moment of discussion, the first human nodded and turned to face Hiva. "I'm Lance and this is Bobby. We're looking for our friends. They're mutants, too."

Hiva nodded in understanding. The conversation was finally getting somewhere.

"Hey, can you help us out? We left some friends outside the city. Can you help us get them?"

Hiva studied the humans. The speaker was tall for a human and probably looked gruff even on his best days. His clothes were nearly tatters and his exposed skin was cracked and covered with scars, but he still held himself as though he could take on the world. Hiva considered how much time it would take to find the missing mutants.

"Alright, Glive, tell him that we'll send a few scouts out to find the missing humans. We have to meet the others now." Hiva turned to the rest of the Vulgates, leaving Glive to translate his words. He picked five to lead the search team. Two groups of three warriors were sent to find food and shelter in case there was no room at the skatepark. From what the mutants had told them, space wouldn't be a problem, but Hiva didn't feel comfortable relying solely on the mutants. If all went well, the whole group would meet at the skatepark four days later and work on a plan from there.

"They say they understand and they're ready to go when we are." Glive walked to Hiva's side. "Are we leaving now?"

"Yes. Gather the stragglers. Where is our Oracle?" Hiva looked around the close circle of Vulgates, but did not see the Oracle, who read the will of the Fates before each battle.

"Oh, he's still not feeling well. I can do it though." Glive's voice rang like a bell in the silence.

"K'mas ten nec Glive, there are some things that I will take your word on as a noble, and others I will not. This is one of those issues."

"Look, I know you have absolutely no faith in my abilities, but it can't hurt can it? It's not like anyone's life will hang in the balance if I read the signs wrong as opposed to not reading them at all."

One of the Vulgates laughed. "You don't belong here. You're K'mas."

For the first time, Glive looked angry. "And K'ten, so don't you forget it. I outrank every one of you and I'm the only K'ten you have here, so unless you intend to do without, you'll do well to rethink your attitudes. I'm the best K'ten alive and I know it, so don't try to put me down."

"Hey, Curtain or whoever," Lance called from across the room. He couldn't understand what was going on, but he had a feeling it was bad news. "Can we get going already? This place is making me nervous. And stop glaring at each other like that. You look like you're about to kill someone."

K'vas nec Hiva nodded to his followers and they all headed in their own direction. The party that would go straight to the skatepark left last.

"So, Kayvaznick, huh?" Lance sidled up to Hiva as the group was walking to the skatepark. It wasn't far and there was no reason for the Vulgates to subject their wings to any more abuse from the cold. "Is that Russian or something?"

Hiva looked at Glive, who shrugged and turned away again. "K'vas nec Hiva. K'vas nec is ti-tle."

Lance nodded. "Oh, so that's your title. What's it mean?"

"Vulgate..." Hiva searched his limited Earth vocabulary. "Warrior."

"So your name is Hiba?"

"Hiva." He emphasized the 'v.'

"Ah, so, Hiva. Are you the boss of this group?" Lance looked around at some of the other Vulgates. To be perfectly honest, the only Vulgates who looked shrimpier than Hiva were Glive and Zieet, though Lance didn't know their names.

Hiva answered with a smile, already knowing what was going through Lance's mind. "Yes."

Lance grinned back and tilted his head so he could look Hiva in the eye. "Cool. Kinda short, though, aren't you?"

"No, young."

Lance chuckled at that, but he quickly grew somber. "Look, Hiva. I know my power isn't all mystic, but there are things I just know. After getting my butt kicked so many times by the X-Men, I've sort of developed a sixth sense about trouble, if you know what I mean." Hiva bent closer to hear Lance's words, since his voice had dropped several notches while he spoke. "What I'm trying to say is, I've got experience with pain and trouble, and I can sense it coming. Intuition, if that's the right word. And man, we're heading into some major trouble. I don't know what, exactly, but maybe we should turn around."

"Lance," Hiva looked the mutant in the eye. "I understand, but others are in." He pointed ahead, towards the entrance of the skatepark. "What to do..." He shrugged helplessly.

Bobby, silent for a long time before, nudged Lance in the side. The two of them whispered furiously. Bobby jabbed a finger at his bag several times during the conversation, but his meaning was lost on the Vulgate. Meanwhile, Hiva warned the rest of the Vulgates to stay alert for trouble.

"Okay, how about this, you send about a quarter of your best fighters to hang back. The rest of us will go in and if something bad happens, we'll send one person out to get backup. The others will show up a little while afterwards, so they can be like a second wave. What d'ya think?"

Hiva paused as he tried to figure out what a wave was, but nodded that he understood the gist of the suggestion. "Good."

The group was divided shortly thereafter and what remained of the Vulgate's party approached the skatepark. At the door, someone within slid a peephole open and cautiously observed the group. The peephole was shut quietly and the door opened. Hiva looked at Lance, who was standing in a protective circle of fighters. Bobby was in a different circle, ready to bolt and send a signal for the other Vulgates if necessary. At an unspoken command, half of the Vulgates shifted into their battle-ready forms, with metal wings, steel-like claws and blood-hungry fangs. Hiva stayed as he was, but stepped into the building as though he suspected nothing.

He got nothing, since the corridor that the door opened into was empty. The entire group filed into the skatepark. As Hiva peered into the darkness behind the ticket booth, and Zieet complained to Glive about the smell, Lance stood next to the door. "It's a trap, there's no doubt about it now." He said it dully, as though they were already so deeply trapped that there was no point in trying to escape.

"Don't be stupid." Zieet said haughtily- though he said it in his native language. "We can just walk out, the door's still open."

Hiva looked back at the door. It was strange for a second, seeing Lance's silhouette against the sun outside.

"Bobby," Lance's voice was low. "Go now, get the others. We don't have time."

Bobby nodded and started for the door. He barely made it three steps before a deep rumbling sound shook the corridor. Hiva watched, motionless, for a split second as the light beyond Lance's silhouette shrank. A door, heavy and metal, was dropping behind Lance, and there was no time for Bobby to make it out.

Amid shouts of anger at the deception and a flurry of motion, Hiva pulled a startled Zieet out of the way and yelled for everyone to move out of the way. In one smooth movement, he tore the bag off Bobby's bag and hurled it towards Lance. The bag caught the mutant in the chest and propelled him backwards, right out of the door. The whole incident took less than two seconds.

Lance looked up from where he lay on the ground and gasped. The door was nearly shut and his torso was directly underneath it. He scrambled backwards as fast as he could and yanked his legs away from the door, praying that he was far enough.

There was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized he wasn't.

Scott and Todd

Scott slowly rose through the fog of unconsciousness with the help of Kurt's frantic shaking. He took a deep breath, tried to collect his thoughts and opened his eyes. Kurt shrieked and teleported away and, belatedly, Scott squeezed his eyes shut. He waited for a hail of ceiling tiles and insulation to fall on him, but nothing happened.

"My apologies, friend Scott." A strange voice asked in an eerily emotionless voice. "I have temporarily suspended your ability to use your powers. I feared you might panic and attack someone."

Scott cautiously opened his eyes. He could see clearly, no more red-tinged images, and not only that, but he didn't have to wear his visor either. He looked around at the white room with surprise. It had been years since he had seen any color other than red- red either from his visor or his mutant power. He blinked rapidly as Kurt peered over the edge of the table that he was laying on, completely incredulous. He had heard that the mutant was blue, but never really believed it.

"Why am I not dead?" Kurt asked

"It matters little how the feat is accomplished. We are in danger here. This skatepark, as you call it, is overrun by characters much like this one." The stranger pointed to the prostrate and unconscious Beam.

Todd took the moment to interrupt. "Which is yet another reason that we should just kill him and get it over with. Even if we go down, it's one less of them for the next group to deal with."

Scott didn't answer, but shook his head. The argument was over a moot point. Not only was Todd outnumbered by the X-Men, but Scott was acting as leader and if he said they wouldn't kill anyone, they simply wouldn't kill anyone.

The stranger spoke again. He had light brown hair that almost looked blonde and his eyes were somewhere between blue and grey. "Perhaps the human may yet have a purpose. It would be best if we do not yet dispose of it."

Todd's voice was steadily rising. Scott got the impression that either Todd knew the man or had been arguing with him since Scott lost consciousness. "Don't be stupid, are we going to carry him around? We still have to get out of here. If we kill him now, we won't have to do it later."

"But Todd, do you not acknowledge that we have to escape this place?"

"Well, duh. I have no intention of staying here."

"Then it follows," the stranger's voice hardened. "That it is important that we find out why this human is behaving so erratically."

"Look." Todd snarled. "I don't care about your logic. You're about as smart as they come, but you're just like Summers- naive. Your logic can be just as nice as anything, but you aren't being reasonable."

"What's so reasonable about killing someone?" Scott demanded.

"The fact that it's either them or us." Todd snapped at Scott, still glaring at the stranger with all his might. "The Professor's dead, Scott. Get over it. No matter how you try, this isn't the time or place to play at peace. It's not that I like killing people, but sometimes its necessary."

"Todd, are we not supposed to work together? How can we be effective if you refuse to listen to me?" The man's voice was calm, but it had a dangerous lilt to it. "This is getting out of hand. Our most pressing issue is the destruction of Valzinameku. Nothing else must interfere. This human can assist us. To kill it before we have used it to its full potential is a waste that we will regret later."

"Lucifer, I don't give a rat's tail. I don't consider you my partner and you can tell your flaming Fates that too. My first problem is getting out of here alive and I can't do that with you interfering."

The stranger, who Scott now noticed had wings, crossed his arms. "Suppose I told you that the easiest way to get out of this alive is to defeat Valzinameku?"

Todd grinned in a most unfriendly fashion. "I'd say you were lying."

"If I can place a human in a state of suspended consciousness that gives me total control of their mind, what makes you think that our enemy cannot as well? These humans are under Valzinameku's control. If we destroy him, we don't have to worry about these pawns." Lucifer explained as if this was the most rational thing in the world and some child had dared question the logic of it.

"Great idea, Lou." Todd mocked. "We'll destroy the demon and then we won't have to worry about anything anymore. Now, all we have to do is call Valzinameku and ask him to come here so we can kill him. It's a brilliant plan!"

Lucifer nodded. "It is, however, slightly flawed. My intention is to go back to the beginning and defeat him from there."

Todd blinked. "Wait, you mean, we're going back underground?"

"Yes. We're going to the caves that Valzinameku came from. I suspect we will find a clue about how he may be defeated."


	56. Chapter 55

Lance

"This isn't happening. My God... this isn't happening." Lance looked around quickly, wondering where the X-Men were when he needed them. He gave up and decided that if he ignored the pain in his legs he'd be okay. "Do I really want to see this...?" He asked himself. He decided not to and laughed weakly as he remembered Scott's look of surprise when he noticed his arm was gone. "Geez. The irony."

Lance gritted his teeth and looked at his legs. The metal door had dropped with enough speed and weight to not just crush his legs, but sever them just below the knees. Lance rolled over onto his stomach, trying not to vomit or pass out. Bobby and the Vulgates were still trapped inside the skatepark. He had to get help for them...

As he dragged himself across Bayville's cracked and sometimes missing sidewalks, the rational part of Lance's mind hoped he wouldn't get an infection. Then, he saw the shadow swoop ominously over him. He had a moment of innocent hope before he realized that it wasn't the shadow of a Vulgate in flight.

Logan, Kitty, Lorna, Pietro

"Hang on! I'm almost there, Kitty!" Lorna tore across the empty Bi-Lo parking lot to the huge crater where the store had once been.

"Yeah, well hurry! I can't hold both of them forever and if I phase through you'll never get us out of here!" Kitty was holding on for dear life- hers, Logan's and Pietro's. After the first quake, Logan had tumbled into the hole he had been peering into. His claws had saved him from the worst of the fall. Logan had climbed almost all the way to the top of the hole with Pietro tugging futilely on the heavier mutant's shirt when a second earthquake shook Logan's hold. Luckily, Kitty grabbed onto Pietro before he fell into the hole as well.

Kitty felt the beginnings of another earthquake and shrieked for Lorna to hurry. Suddenly, the weight on Kitty's arms got a lot lighter. The relief came just in time. As Kitty tumbled backwards with Pietro, the third quake tore the gaping hole even further. Logan scrambled backwards, scooped Pietro up and started running as fast as he could away from the hole and back to the Institute, while Lorna followed with Kitty.

Lorna dropped Kitty to the ground near the school and landed. "This is really starting to ruin my nails. I haven't had them done in... forever." She complained, half to take everyone's minds off how close they had just come to losing half their number and half because she really was pissed off about the condition of her nails.

"You telling me?" Logan growled. He flexed his fingers gingerly. "That fall just about ripped my claws right out. Good work half-pint. You saved our asses out there."

Kitty just shrugged. A few weeks ago, she would have wondered where that strength had come from, but now she was more than willing to sign it off as adrenaline.

"That was Lance." Pietro limped to a stack of debris that he had arranged into a chair. "He's alive."

Kitty sat on a makeshift bed. "Maybe. Why would he use his power unless he was in danger? Then again, it may have been Valzinameku, come back to finish us."

"Why would he do that? We're so busy staying alive that we don't have time to attack him." Lorna countered.

Pietro sighed and rubbed his bad leg. "Let's not argue about this. Tomorrow we'll check out the skatepark, it might be that people have gathered in fair sized groups and are just staying out of sight. When we do our rounds, we'll keep an eye out for survivors, but we shouldn't rush out for something like this."

Logan nodded. "And since we've gotta check out there anyway, where else might people be hiding? Lorna and me can swing by." Logan paused when he saw the look on Pietro's face. "We'd be back before nightfall."

Pietro shook his head. "First of all, are you sure that's a good idea? There might be another quake. Second, you two are the only ones with offensive powers. Hell, I can barely move. Not only that, but everyone else might be outside the city. Seeing as I'm the invalid here, I must protest both of you leaving like that. Besides, there are a lot of places, provided enough of them are still standing. Part of Fort Braddock might still be standing, the skatepark, the city bomb shelter, they might even be in the Institute with us, and none of us would realize it. The most logical places for them to go is the bomb shelter, but when we passed it, it didn't look too good. The next place would be the skatepark. Everyone knows its indestructible, but that means anyone could be in there. Fort Braddock would have supplies, if they aren't already stolen or spoiled. The Institute would be the last of the four places. The only reason people would have to come here is to see what's left. That's why I suggested it. Its far from all the other places, and offers nothing more than a roof. No one will bother us here, so we can work on a strategy."

"Pietro, dear... All I understood was that you dragged us out here for nothing." Lorna glanced at Kitty and Logan. "And why was that again?"

Pietro rubbed his temples. "Because its safest. If we find any of the others, we'll all be safer here because no one wants to be this far away from everything. If we go to one of the other places, we'll have to protect it all the time."

Logan shrugged. "Okay, Slim. You have a plan. Spill."

"We'll have to stop looking for the others to carry it out. If they're still alive this far in the game, we shouldn't worry about them for a while longer. We need to clear out space in this ruin, someplace near the inside so we can use this place as headquarters. If we can make this place livable, then once we find the others, we can start working on getting out of here. We need food, clothes, first aid... and weapons."

"We got weapons."

"No." Pietro smiled, albeit grimly. "I mean weapons. By the time you get close enough to an enemy to use those claws of yours Logan, I want them dead. We can't afford to get bogged down in one-on-one combat. Besides, there are so few of us who have powers that can be considered weapons that it would be stupid to let you run around swinging your claws and leave us unprotected."

"Alright, clear a space. Got it." Logan started towards the far wall.

"Actually, Kitty and I already cleared it out. We need things like beds, lamps, you know, furnishings." When Lorna and Logan stared blankly at Pietro he just shrugged. "What did you think we did while you were away?" He frowned at the grins Lorna and Logan exchanged with one another. "On second thought, don't answer that. I really don't want to know."

"So let's get started moving stuff. You know where we're gonna find 'furnishings,' Slim?"

Pietro pulled out a rough sketch. "Actually, I do."

Logan snorted. "Typical."

Lucifer

"Do you guys hear that?" Kurt was standing very still, listening for the strange sound again. "It sounded human."

Scott half turned. "You sure?"

"I heard it as well." Lucifer nodded. "I believe there are more people behind us. At least one is a Vulgate."

Todd whirled around. "So what the Hell are we waiting for? Let's find them!"

"For once, I am inclined to agree with you, Todd. However, it may be a trap."

"Like it matters? We're gonna die anyway. Get over it, Lucifer. We've got some friends to catch up with."

Storm

It had been a while since Storm or any of her small group had had the slightest glimmerings of hope. Too much had happened too quickly for any of them to entertain the idea that they'd ever get a break. For the moment at least, they could imagine a happy ending.

"They want us to come with them. They'll fly us into the city and to where some other Vulgates are." Jean was nearly crying from relief. "Bobby and Lance made it into the city. They're safe."

"So at least we aren't the only ones." Wanda sighed. "Any word about the others?"

Jean translated the question for her. "No, but they think there are some people in the skatepark. We should check it out."

"This is just too good to be true, Bobby and Lance are alive, we've been saved, I mean, a few minutes ago I was ready to die." Jean-Paul smiled. "Who knows, we might still wake up and find this was all a really bad dream or something."

"Don't get too excited just yet. We could just be setting ourselves up for a fall. Stay alert. There's no telling if we can trust these people." Storm warned Jean, Mystique, Jean-Paul and Wanda. She was grinning ear-to-ear, though, and if truth be told, she was just as excited as the rest of them.

Jean nodded at one of the Vulgates and turned to Storm. "They say we should go now. The leader is afraid he'll miss out on something if we stay out here too long."

"Alright people. Pack your bags and let's hit the road."

Pietro

Pietro was swearing so fast that the words sounded blurred even to himself. He was sitting in a chair that Logan and Lorna had salvaged and was doing his all to not cry in front of Kitty. She was changing the bandage on his leg, chattering aimlessly about what a big baby he was and how it had been really noble of him to try to save Remy and Alex. She was completely oblivious to Pietro's pain. There was a loud thump right outside the room they were in and Kitty and Pietro jumped. After casting a suspicious look at each other, Pietro picked up a tire iron and Kitty slipped to the wall to phase through and see who was at the door. She was back in a moment.

"It's Logan and Lorna. They've got someone with them." Kitty announced as she opened the door. Lorna rushed in, closely followed by Logan, and pulled out a mat. In Logan's arms was a twisted mass of flesh that might have been human at one point, but was only barely alive now.

"Found him out at the edge of my sweep and figured I couldn't just leave him there. From the trail of blood following him, he must have dragged himself about four blocks without his legs before I found him. Just in time too, he should be dead by now." Logan scowled.

"Any idea who it is?" Pietro asked.

"No clue. The trail stops at the entrance of the skatepark. Or rather, it begins there." Logan stepped back as Lorna brought a bucket of water and an arm full of cloths.

"Alright, Kitty. Let's get to work. Logan, can you find your way to the lab? I think it's still blocked off, but there should be bandages and stuff. Grab whatever you think we'll need."

"I guess the bleeding stopped on its own, but... where do we start?" Kitty looked up at Pietro with a slightly queasy look on her face.

Pietro looked down at the mangled body and felt sick. "I guess we start with his head and work our way down. I don't want to mess with those scabs until I absolutely have to."

"Do you two know what you're doing?" Lorna asked from the corner of the room.

"Not really." Pietro answered. "But what else is there to do?"

Two hours later, Pietro sat back. "Alright, dump the water out, Kitty. Lorna, could you find Logan. I need to have a word with him." Alone with the legless man, Pietro sighed and rubbed the bandage on his own leg. "This just gets worse and worse doesn't it?" As he sat there looking down at the man, Kitty came back with clean water.

"He's still alive, right?"

"I don't know Kitty. I guess so, but," Pietro shrugged. "There's no telling how long he'll stay alive. You look tired." Pietro stared at Kitty, concern playing over his face. "Why don't you get some rest and Lorna and I will keep working, okay?"

"That's alright, 'Tro. I'm fine." Kitty kneeled next to the unmoving figure on the mat. "And I can't really do anything except nurse you guys back to health." Logan walked in the room with several boxes and an extremely smug expression.

"There's a back-up generator still on down there. I found ketchup."

Kitty took a box from him. "We can't eat ketchup."

"Obviously, Half-pint, but we can use it to make that crap you cook taste like food." Logan tossed the boxes down and glanced at Pietro. There was a moment when the two of them just stared at each other before Logan turned to Kitty. "You look tired, get some sleep."

She stopped going through the boxes. "But I'm not-"

"You're kinda old to fight your bedtime, y'know. You're no good to anyone as a walking zombie. We're gonna need you at your best when you guys start working on his legs."

"Ugh. Whatever. It's not like I care anyway." She muttered as she left the room, slightly flattered by the indirect compliment. When Kitty was gone, Pietro shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Logan leaned on the wall opposite of Pietro and watched the weak breaths of the man on the mat.

"It's Lance."

Logan jumped to attention. "What about him? Did he send a message?"

"No." Pietro looked at the injured man. "I mean, it's Lance."

Logan stared at Pietro for a moment before looking back at the mat. "What? What makes you say that?"

"I've seen his face beaten up in ways you X-Men don't bother to imagine. Besides, Todd told me. He wants us to get the rest of the Vulgates and storm the skatepark. He says..." Pietro looked at Logan with tears in his eyes. "He says he thinks they know how to end all of this. He knows how to stop Valzinameku."


	57. Chapter 56

Todd

"So what you're saying is, we go down there in full arms, work our way backwards and then we'll find something that will help us beat this thing."

"I realize you doubt my plan, Todd, but it is the only one we have." Lucifer twirled a board around and casually took down four of Beam's men. "By the way, we are one turn away from the others. Should we finish taking this group out, or proceed to our allies?"

Todd shrugged. "HEY, YOU GUYS ALRIGHT BACK THERE?" He yelled at the top of his lungs, still hacking away at enemies with his makeshift bat.

"YEAH, JUST GOT DONE CLEANING UP. WHERE ARE YOU?"

Todd was just about to yell an answer when Bobby and Hiva rounded the corner. "Cool." The Vulgates washed over what remained of the skatepark's gang and in no time at all, they were standing in a circle, wondering what to do next.

There was a dull pounding on the door. Everyone looked at Lucifer, who shrugged and looked at Todd. Never one to take the spotlight, Todd looked at Scott who spent half a second looking for someone else to pass the ball to before he got a grip on himself. "Alright, guys. Let's open up that door."

Bobby nodded and froze the door. It took the combined efforts of Scott and three Vulgates to crack the door. "I don't get it." Scott glared at the door. "It should shatter like glass. Can you make it any colder, Bobby?"

"Sorry, Scott, but that's as cold as I can make it. You're right though, anything else would have shattered just from the cold, never mind your blasts. There's something weird about the door. That's why it won't break even when every molecule in it is minus 52 degrees."

The pounding on the other side of the door continued. Scott studied the situation. The pounding was systematic, meaning more of the Vulgates were probably outside. His group wasn't having much luck getting through the door either. "What would the professor say?"

"He'd say some bull shit about how you should try your best and work together. He's gone. Let's get over it, Summers." Todd tapped his foot impatiently.

"Alright, so what would Magneto say?"

Todd stared at Scott. "Are you being serious?"

Scott just ignored him. "He'd say I have a lot of potential but no focus." Scott stared thoughtfully at the door. "Focus... that's it. The door is impenetrable, whatever it's made of. But the walls, we'll just make our own doorway. Okay, Bobby, our target is the smiley face." Scott pointed towards the graffiti face on the wall right beside the door.

"Gotcha." Bobby nodded and concentrated on the face. Almost immediately, cracks began spiderwebbing across the wall. Scott sent a short blast towards the middle of the web and smiled as the wall crumbled. Daylight shone through the hole, harsh and unfiltered and more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.

"Let's go see who's come to join the party." Scott inched towards the hole, one hand ready on his visor in case extreme prejudice was required.

A platinum blonde head peered cautiously through the hole. "Oh. You're alive. That's great. Really. Is Todd in there?"

"Who are you?"

"Hmm. It's me, Summers." The human backed up a few steps to let the crowd of mutants and Vulgates out of the skatepark. "Todd. Hey, you're alive. Awesome. Absolutely awesome." The blonde guy bobbed his head once or twice as though to show how ecstatic he was to see them, but his voice was strangely monotone. Scott stared at him, positive that he'd seen the kid someplace before, but not sure where.

"Hey, Slim, where'd ya go?" A gruff voice called from somewhere above. That was one voice Scott recognized.

"Hey yourself, Logan. Where are you?" He scanned the surrounding buildings. All of a sudden there was a tremendous crash inside the skatepark as Logan finally tore his way through the roof.

"Aw, damn. Ya coulda told me you already had it." The mutant complained, though secretly there wasn't a single person he'd rather see. Lorna floated through the hole after him and brought Kitty with her.

"See, I told you you should have just let me phase through." Kitty huffed.

"Yeah, and I told you it was too dangerous. Get off it already." Logan stalked through Scott's hole, pausing to admire the teen's work. He grunted his approval and surveyed the group in front of him. "What'd ya think, Slim? They'll do?"

For a moment, Scott thought Logan was talking to him. Only a moment though, because that was as long as it took the blonde kid to answer.

"It doesn't matter what I think. They'll have to do. Let's get back to the Institute. Night will fall soon and I don't want to get caught out here with these new predators running the town. Logan, get some of the Vulgates to help you cover up this hole. Grab a dumpster or something and push it in front. And see if you can cover the one on the roof too. It would really suck to go through all that trouble and then have a roc settle down in the skatepark."

"A rock?" Scott asked, totally mystified.

"It's a big bird." Kitty said. She stared at Scott for a second before she ran up to him and crushed him in a bear hug. "You know, you and Todd look a lot alike when you're both covered in dirt and dust."

"Oh. Thanks." Scott frowned, clearly not pleased at being told he looked like Todd.

"The Institute..." The blonde guy strolled through the group, limping heavily. "is this way, for those of you who care."

"Who is this guy?" Scott whispered to Kitty.

Evan snapped his fingers. "Are you related to Pietro Maximoff?" he asked the blonde.

The stranger stopped and turned around with a strange look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, well." Evan was caught off guard. "You just, I dunno, man. You look like him. Only, you know. Different."

"Really." The guy intoned. He turned around and started walking again. Scott saw Kitty and Lorna glance at Logan. The Canadian shook his head and cleared his throat.

"We've been staying in the Institute. Got supplies, food, bandages. That kinda stuff." Logan perked up a little. "And a survivor. Not much meat to him. He'll never dance the same, but he's alive."

It was strange, thought Evan, and he suspected Scott and Kurt were thinking the same thing. Listening to Logan chatter mindlessly with Lorna and Kitty interrupting occasionally was creeping him out more than the strange guy walking ahead of them.

"So who is this survivor?" Scott asked when Logan paused for breath.

It seemed to be the wrong question, because it sent Logan back into another pointless tangent. This time, though, Kitty and Lorna looked sharply at him as though he was holding out important information.

"Enough." The still unnamed guy in the front breathed. "We're here."

The former X-Men looked around for a sign of their old home, but all they saw was a small mountain. "I don't see it, do you?" Bobby nudged Kurt.

"Ich weiss nicht." Kurt mumbled. Bobby followed Kurt's line of sight to the strange blonde guy.

"What's up? Logan trusts him. Even calls him Slim." Bobby laughed under his breath. "Man, I thought Scott was gonna blow a fuse when he realized that Logan was calling that kid Slim. Who do you think he is, huh? A brother, or cousin? I never heard of Pietro having a brother. You? Hey, Kurt?"

"Gossip later, Frosty. Right now you're holding us up." The stranger was holding a trapdoor open and waiting for Bobby and Kurt to hurry up and go inside.

"Right." Bobby climbed down the ladder and followed the narrow path. It ended at a doorway, and once Bobby stepped through with the last of the group at his heels, he realized that the mountain must have been right in front of the mansion's front door.

They were standing in the main hall. At one point, there had been a set of gently spiraling staircases in the hall that led to the second floor, but only one was still standing and even it looked like it was about to fall. The hall that had branched off of the main hall into the kitchen was still intact, but that was pretty much it.

"We've almost cleared the rubble from all of the rooms on the ground and sub levels. They just aren't all accessible from here." The platinum blonde's hair shone silver in the meager light provided through the only unbroken windows in the hall. "Come along, this way. Lorna and Logan will show you where everything is." He nodded to Kitty and the two of them broke away from the main group and went down the hall to the kitchen.

"So who is he again?" Bobby asked. His voice was strangely loud in the dark, empty hall.

"Just call him Slim. He'll tell ya who he is when he's ready." Logan shrugged.

"Okay, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you would please allow me to direct you to the conference room, we will begin our tour." Lorna said with mock severity as she gestured towards a hall that was all but invisible in the shadows of the room.

The Vulgates took to conversing amongst themselves almost immediately, pointing out curtains or sometimes furniture. They really did look like tourists, stopping in bunches to stare in awe at pictures on the wall or a broken statute in a niche. Once they even brought the whole group to a standstill while they pored over a suit of armor. Finally, Logan just yanked the sword out of its stand next to the armor and thrust it at the lead Vulgate. They got the point, and moved on, but still managed to slow the tour down significantly. When the tour ended back in the main hall, they found makeshift tables set out and bowls of soup waiting. Kitty was there waiting for them as well, but the stranger, Slim, was no where to be found.

All in all, dinner was pretty cheerful. Between the Vulgates and Bobby's attempts to ease some of the tension, at least half the table was always laughing. Of course, since that half of the table was composed of Vulgates, who were clearly making themselves comfortable, the rest of the mutants and a few of the more important Vulgates were constantly sighing at the spectacle.

Hiva sat with Scott on one side and Glive on the other. Across from them were Lucifer, Logan and Todd. The vibes from the six of them were varying from curious to hostile, as Scott and Todd subconsciously fought for supremacy, even while Todd fought Lucifer for the same reason. Hiva was pointedly ignoring the twelve year old at his elbow and trying to divide his attention between Scott, Lucifer, Todd and Logan. Logan, having identified Hiva as the Vulgate's equivalent of himself, was measuring the Vulgate up and trying to figure out what was up with the little red-haired kid next to him. And Glive, Glive was basking in the tangle of emotions surrounding him.

Everyone stayed in the hall long after the soup had been finished, mostly because no one wanted to be alone in the strange, and yet familiar, place. Torches had been lit and placed in the formerly electric chandelier and in strategic locations around the room, so even after the sun had set there was light.

Around midnight, Kurt excused himself from a group of Vulgates and Bobby, who was too busy laughing at K'vas nec Allin's parody of one of his comrade's tumble over his own feet to answer. He took the hall that led to the sleeping quarters, but suddenly changed his mind. Instead of turning right, towards his room, he went left, in the direction of the conference room. Just beyond the conference room was the room that served as the infirmary, and as Kurt had suspected, several torches were burning inside.

Kurt looked into the room. Slim was sitting in a beat up armchair in the corner, staring contemplatively at someone lying on the only bed in the room. Kurt cleared his throat and entered. Slim didn't look up or even acknowledge Kurt's presence as Kurt pulled up a seat next to him. They sat in silence for a long time watching the labored breaths of the man on the bed.

"How've you been?" Kurt asked softly.

Slim blinked slowly. "Could be worse. I could be Remy or Alex."

"You look different." Kurt peered at Slim. "You sound different too."

Slim didn't take his eyes off the man on the mat. "Yeah well, that happens when your brain moves a million times faster than your battered body will let you go."

"Pietro," Kurt paused and turned to him. "I don't know what happened. And if you don't want to talk about, that's fine too. But... do you think... maybe..."

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Pietro spoke. "Well? Even if I could use my mutant powers, it'd be no good for reading your mind, Kurt."

"I was just wondering if, when this is all over, well, are you guys going to stay with us, or leave and reform the Brotherhood?"

Pietro shook his head. "Don't be naive. Freddy and Father are dead. I'm all but crippled. Lance _is_ crippled. Mystique may be dead for all we know. Todd's the only one of us who'd be in any condition to reform the Brotherhood, and he wouldn't do that. All that's if we get out of this alive, anyway. "

"So you'll stay?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Kurt smiled and hugged Pietro. "Perfect. It will work out. You'll see, Slim."

"If you say so." Pietro shook his head and looked at his friend, his brother lying on the bed. "At least it can't get any worse."


	58. Chapter 57

Storm

Storm and her comrades stared up at the skatepark. It was all they could do to keep from breaking into tears. The skatepark was blocked off with dumpsters and, according to Jean, there was no one inside.

The Vulgates were huddled in a group, whispering to each other and the mutants were all staring, horrified, at the skatepark. The leader of the Vulgates, K'vas nec Allel nodded to his companions and left the group. He stood a few feet away from Storm and cleared his throat to get her attention. Jean, who was hyperaware of her position as translator, scurried to Storm's side to mediate between them.

"They've noticed a nest of activity on the other side of town." Jean translated. "The problem is, they don't know if its the rest of the Vulgates or something else. The leader wants to know what you suggest the best course of action is."

"We should send someone to check who it is." Storm said. She frowned slightly as she tried to decide who to send. All the mutants were much too weak to handle any problems that might come up- and there were a lot of potential problems with the plan- but Storm's better judgment warned her against sending a Vulgate alone. Besides, Storm couldn't order the Vulgates to go into a dangerous situation on their own. Her only hope was to pick someone who could complete the mission without getting hurt. Storm's gaze fell on Mystique. The woman was competency personified, but still an unknown element. Storm looked at Wanda for a second, but then dismissed her. The girl was not known for her subtlety.

Nor was Jean-Paul, but, in the end, he was the one that Storm decided to send. He could always run if he was discovered, and if cornered, he had a few tricks up his sleeve. He was too much of a coward to abandon the rest of the mutants and run to play lapdog to the enemy, as Mystique was infamous for doing. He would complain and make a big show of his sacrifice, but it was a good chance for him to do something.

Even as Storm decided that Jean-Paul would be the one to case the strange 'nest', as Allel had called it, Jean was fixed in avid conversation with the Vulgate. Once Allel had caught on to Jean's telepathy (which happened incredibly fast considering she tried her hardest to keep it a secret from them) the two had ceased communicating aloud. In a way it was comforting to Jean. She didn't have to worry about hiding her powers any more and thoughts were passed between them instantly. She also didn't have to worry about mistranslating anything, since _ideas_ not words were the basis of communication. What really helped, though, was that she didn't have to worry that the Vulgates were plotting against the mutants. She knew, for a fact, that Allel and his group intended to return the mutants to their leader and then abandon them completely. As far as Allel was concerned, saving the Jean, Storm, Mystique, Jean-Paul and Wanda was nothing important- just another order from a higher authority. What the Vulgates were really after was Valzinameku.

Jean had pretty much guessed that either she or Jean-Paul would be sent to investigate the hideout the Vulgates had found. Allel and his men didn't realize the true extent of the mutants' abilities. The Vulgates had only seen the mutants at their worst and now considered them irrelevant creatures who were unworthy of notice. If Storm sent only one mutant out, and he (or she) came back unscathed, then the Vulgate's attitude might switch from dismissive to oppressive. Jean could see that the Vulgates would stop at nothing to destroy their enemy, and if they had to exploit the mutants to do it, then they wouldn't hesitate at all.

The problem was simple. If the mutants showed their power and let the Vulgates know their true strength, then they would be exploited. If they didn't the Vulgates would leave them in the violated remains of Bayville to fend for their own. The solution was a lot more difficult.

Adding to the complexity was the fact that Allel wanted to send a team of three people to investigate the hideout. One mutant and two Vulgates. One Vulgate was intimidating enough, but to be alone with two of them... Jean could sense disaster encroaching. She tried to convince Allel to send only one Vulgate, or perhaps a group of four, which would give the mutants less of a disadvantage, but Allel refused to argue the point with her.

"Alright, I'll send Jean-Paul." Storm finally announced. He sighed heavily and, as Storm had predicted, started complaining.

Jean cleared her throat. "Storm, he says he wants to send two Vulgates with him."

Storm stared at Jean. "What do you mean, 'he wants to send two Vulgates?' What does he take us for?"

Jean glanced at Allel. The Vulgate was staring calmly at Storm, with a slight smile beginning to creep across his face. He spoke to Jean, aloud, though in his native tongue.

"Shall I explain to her why she has no say in this matter?"

Jean eyed the Vulgate as she translated for Storm. A sudden darkness began to descend on Jean's vision and she knew, without a doubt, that she had made a fatal error.

The Vulgates were telepathic too. They already knew about the power of the mutants and Jean had been the one who told them.

"By all means." Storm answered Allel's challenge, oblivious to Jean's moment of insight.

Allel locked eyes with Storm. Without breaking contact, he raised one long, elegant hand and pointed it directly at Jean. He smiled briefly and disappeared.

When he reappeared, he was directly in front of Jean, hand positioned right in front of her face. With a strength that seemed beyond all comprehension, Allel pushed Jean, sending her head-first across the street. Her flight was arrested rather quickly by a brick wall.

Jean-Paul, Wanda and Mystique stared, completely numb with horror.

Storm just yawned.

A second later, three Vulgates were blasted to pieces by a bolt of lightning.

"Now look what you've done." Storm said. A strong breeze began blowing. "You've gone and killed one of my students. This," Storm's eyes shined white and the mutants scrambled for cover. "is between us. Come, Vulgate. Let us decide once and for all who is in charge here."

The Xavier Institute

Pietro, still under the alias of Slim, stared through his telescope for a moment longer before sighing and turning away. Things were getting complicated again.

Storm had just arrived at the Institute with Jean-Paul, Wanda, Mystique and a mob of Vulgates in tow. Pietro took a moment to notice that Jean Grey was not with them. Apparently, neither was the Vulgate who Hiva had put in charge of the group. Storm's only answer was a careless shrug. The Vulgates immediately fled to the other side of the room and Jean-Paul and Wanda winced. Mystique was, as usual, imperturbable.

Pietro stayed in his dark corner of the Hall while Kurt ran to spread the news that Storm had finally shown up. In the excitement that followed, Pietro slipped back into the infirmary. There were things creeping around in the back of his mind, and the longer he put them off, the worse they got. At last, he gave in and sat back to plan the survivors' next move.

The mutants and Vulgates had gotten along well considering the language and cultural barriers. The mutants could relate to the Vulgates because they all had strange powers and the Vulgates accepted the mutants as their backwards cousins who had no control over their power. The fact that the two groups accepted each other for completely different reasons hadn't affected anything yet. The problem was, though, that the awareness of difference made leading the group difficult. Even though mutants and Vulgates could relate to each other, they didn't identify with each other. If a decision had to be made, both Scott and K'vas nec Hiva had to agree wholly, otherwise there was no point. The survivors were still only allies, a group only by virtue of the fact that they all lived in the same shelter. The Vulgates and mutants needed a name, a banner of sorts, to unite under. To start, they needed a leader they could all agree on, and a name to identify themselves with. The X-Men, Brotherhood, Vulgates, and Wanda's group needed a name and leader that represented them all.

Once a name was established, there would be practical issues that would have to be handled. Finding food, survivors and drawing accurate maps of the new Bayville would be the next step. All were things easily accomplished with the help of the Vulgates, so Pietro didn't worry much about them. His third dilemma was the most critical, and as the rest of the group settled into survival, Pietro felt the problem crushing his spirit.

The problem was that no one had entered the shelter with the idea of staying for very long. In the beginning it had just been a place to recover while building strength for the final fight. Now, almost six months after arriving in Bayville, fighting Valzinameku was the last thing on anyone's mind. Pietro would have been content to leave it at that and gradually push everyone to preparing for the battle. As far as he could see, there was no need to rush to fight the monster. If the group could build its strength slowly and wait until Valzinameku got careless, the waiting would be worth it. Unfortunately, events were playing themselves out. There wouldn't be time to wait for Valzinameku because he was already on his way.

Pietro looked at Lance. "Well, any suggestions?" The silence of the infirmary was broken by a roar of laughter from the Hall.

In the distance, Jean-Paul yelled an answer. "I'll pound his brain in, that's what! Maximoff's the rip-off here!" There was more laughter at that, but it was cut short by something Pietro couldn't hear.

Still, Pietro smiled. "I see. We just will have to pound his brains in, won't we?" Pietro stood slowly and stretched. "Let's see just how fast this broken body will move, shall we?"

Jean Grey

Jean struggled to a sitting position. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious, but it must have been a while. Night had fallen, and she was alone.

She put a hand to her head and checked how badly she was bleeding. She needn't have bothered. Her entire arm was dripping blood. Jean tried to use her telekinesis to lift herself to sitting position, but failed when the pain forced her to stop moving. It had been luck that had saved her life. Before Allel had even moved, Jean had been gathering her strength to rush him. When he threw her against the wall, she was already using her telekinesis to push herself forward. The impact hadn't been as hard as it should have been- would have been if not for her telekinesis- but it had still taken its toll. Jean reached her mind out towards the Xavier Mansion. The first mind to greet her was Pietro, who was halfway between Jean and the Mansion. As he ran back to the Mansion to get help, Jean extended her mind to watch for trouble. She was convinced that she could sense trouble with her telepathy and ward it off with her telekinesis.

Jean almost cried with relief as she telepathically felt Logan and Scott come barreling into town for her. It was that moment that cost her everything.

As Jean relaxed her guard, a roc settled on the ground next to her. It took a moment to look at her as she stared, completely dumbstruck. Then, it began its feast.

Logan and Scott

They both ran as fast as they could over the broken sidewalk, diving between debris and jumping over it whenever possible. They had almost made it when they heard her scream.

Less than a block in front of them, one of Valzinameku's creations, an enormous reptilian bird, stepped away from a broken wall with something dangling from it's mouth. With a disdainful look at the two mutants, it took to the air, sending a maelstrom of dust and dirt through the street. Scott was poised to blast the bird to smithereens when he heard a small noise behind him. He and Logan whirled around to see Jean sprawled on the ground. Her eyes stared upward and her face was bloody and twisted with fear. Her legs were completely gone and her arms were flung akimbo.

"Jean?" Scott whispered, half hoping to hear her voice gasp in his mind.

"I'll kill them all." Logan growled. "Every damn bird. We were almost here. Why..." he balled his fists. "Why is all this happening to us?"

"Does it matter?" Scott clenched his teeth. "There's nothing we can do. Let's get her..." Scott choked back a sob and gently closed Jean's eyes. "Let's take her home and bury her there. At least one of us will be buried properly."

Logan was snapped out of his tantrum. "Scott-"

The younger mutant shook his head. "Don't. Let's just go. I can't stand seeing her like this. The sooner, the better."

The Xavier Mansion

The funeral lasted all day long. It was Kitty who proposed to put up markers for everyone else who had died. Everyone had agreed that it was a good idea at the time, but counting the dead was a lot harder than any of them had imagined. Magneto had died saving Lance from Logan's claws. No one had seen Freddy since they had escaped from Fort Braddock. A few people dared to hope that meant that he was alive, but Slim corrected them quickly. Freddy was dead and there was no point in hoping for help from him. Dr. Hank McCoy had been killed by one of Evan's spikes, and Xavier himself was crushed in a cave-in. Someone remembered Remy mentioning that Rogue's death and the Cajun himself had died in a gas explosion with Alex Summers. Phoenix was long dead, and after a vote of 7 to 8, it was decided that she would get a marker as well. That made the death count nine. Hiva asked if a marker would be placed for Lance, and after a hot argument between the X-Men and Brotherhood, everyone decided to postpone placing a marker for him until they got proof of his death.

They had no flowers, or a coffin for Jean. They didn't even have shovels. Two of the Vulgates offered to dig Jean's grave. It was a sorry burial for one of Earth's heroes, but the best they could offer.

Slim stood to the side through it all, further alienating himself from the others. Every now and then he would sneak back to his telescope and watch Valzinameku come closer and closer. He wanted to tell someone, but who?

He was still thinking about it at breakfast the day after the funeral when K'vas nec Hiva sat next to him and cleared his throat purposefully.

Slim stared at the Vulgate who, for the first time since his arrival, had opted to not sit at the head table with the other leaders.

"What is your title?" Hiva asked with a sidelong glance at Slim.

Slim thought for a moment. Even though the Vulgate's vocabulary was improving, explaining that he had no title would be difficult. "K'vas. Or K'ten. Maybe both depending on how you look at it."

Hiva nodded as if Slim had just confirmed something. "I am to understand that you are the son of one of the dead kings?"

Pietro considered this. Hiva probably thought of the X-Men and Brotherhood as names of kingdoms, which would make Xavier and Magneto kings. Technically, then, Hiva was right, but Pietro wasn't in a rush to have people realize who he was. "I'm Slim." He said simply. "No title, no parents. Nothing."

Hiva just gazed at Pietro calmly. "I see. Slim." Hiva glanced at the head table. "Well then, Slim. Here is what I propose." Hiva's voice lowered, and suddenly he sounded disturbingly fluent in English. "If you will take position as leader of the humans, I will heal your friend. Scott and Todd are incredibly deaf to my suggestions that we look for Valzinameku, but I sense that the monster is very prominent in your thoughts."

Pietro hid his surprise with a curious look. "And how do you suggest I take control?"

Hiva waved as one of his subordinates walked past. "I have heard that K'vas ten nec Storm can summon bolts of fiery light from the sky to destroy her enemies."

Slim smirked. "Meaning you want me to summon lightning and fry Todd, Scott, Storm and Logan?"

"Want? Me?" Hiva sat back with a hurt look on his face. "I want no such thing. However, if it is necessary and somehow comes to pass, I shall not interfere."

Pietro stared at Hiva. A little voice in his head warned him not to laugh. This must be how politics were played underground, but if Hiva was planning things as ridiculous as pitting a crippled Pietro against the four strongest mutants left, he had a lot to learn.

Pietro cleared his throat and glanced at the table of leaders. "Look, K'vas nec Hiva, don't take this the wrong way, but things don't work like that here."

Hiva's answer was a slow blink.

"I'm not strong enough to take on one of them, and if I was, starting a fight with one means starting a fight with them all. It's..." Pietro struggled with an analogy that Hiva could understand. "Suppose all of us are kings representing our kingdom. There were three permanent alliances, the X-Men, the Brotherhood of Mutants, and another alliance made of everyone else. Then a... a spy from an enemy that isn't in any of the alliances came. She set us up, turned us against each other and as some of our allies started to die, the system fell apart. The X-Men and Brotherhood don't really exist anymore, but the kings still remember those days and try hard to pretend they haven't ended." Slim stared at Todd who was arguing with Scott. "Now what's left has formed a new alliance."

"A survivor's alliance." Hiva whispered. He seemed to be getting the point, so Pietro continued.

"Yeah, that's what we are. But in the alliance, you have about six kingdoms that are still incredibly strong. Of them, two are pretty much neutral." Pietro struggled to find an analogy. "Have you ever heard of the Balance of Powers? Its something humans came up with a long time ago. Basically, you have countries, kingdoms, I mean, that ally themselves with each other on a temporary basis. Like, if Scott and Storm allied, they'd be monstrously powerful. So then, Logan and Todd would ally with each other to keep their power in check." Slim sighed. "That's how it is here. Scott and Storm usually agree with each other and Todd and Logan are almost always on the same side." Hiva was now staring intently at the head table with a look of comprehension creeping across his face. Slim continued. "But sometimes, neither side wants to give. That's when the last two come in. Lucifer and Haiden always side together because if they didn't then getting involved wouldn't solve anything." Pietro waited to see if Hiva had any questions.

Hiva tapped the table idly and turned back to Slim. "I see, so when the deadlock occurs, K'vas ten nec Haiden and K'mas vas nec Lucifer enter the fray and swing the war in favor of one side."

"Yes, that's the general idea. But its not a war that's going on here. Not really." Pietro swore softly. "Well, okay. It is a war of ideals but no one will actually attack anyone. We're all allied, remember?"

Determination settled on Hiva's face. "I see. So I have been talking to the wrong people."

"Basically. Don't go to the big four if you want something done. I can pretty much guarantee you that you'll either get approval from all of them, none of them, or only two. Talk to Haiden and Lucifer first. They're both walking ice cubes, so you'll never know how they'll lean, but at least when you do raise the suggestion to Scott and Todd, you won't have to listen to endless arguments."

"Hmm. Thank you, Slim." Hiva stood to leave.

Slim coughed. "And, Hiva, just so you know, if someone did manage to kill one of the big four, they'd find that the remaining mutants would turn against them. Even Todd would fight if Scott's life was on the line. They don't hate each other, they just both want supremacy."

Hiva nodded and smiled. "I think I understand my error. One person can not overthrow all six alone. In a way, this makes things easier." Hiva ran a hand through his hair and laughed. When he finally spoke, it was with the broken English and rough accent that he had had before. "My, what a mistake. I am grateful to you for explaining, Slim."

Pietro smiled as Hiva walked away. "Who would have thought that he'd get the concept of politics so easily?" Pietro lifted an apple to his mouth, but he paused mid-bite as the significance of his statement occurred to him. "Oh, hell, what did I just do?"


	59. Chapter 58

Victor Creed

Creed smiled gleefully as his lungs pumped icy air in and out of his body. With his adrenaline up for the first time in ages, Victor Creed was ready to push his form to the limit. In his mind, he could already see events playing out. Revenge would indeed be sweet.

Creed stopped running to get his bearings and took a few deep breaths. Ah yes, he could even smell it… victory and the familiar scent of a vulnerable enemy. His laughter ringing across the stark landscape, Victor Creed resumed his journey, convinced that things were finally going his way. The mountains that stood in place of Bayville were calling to him with a promise of an end to a tiny little detail that simply refused to leave him be.

"Hang on, Wolverine." Victor grinned. "I'm coming."

Bayville

"There's something you should know."

The entire hall quieted as Slim stood and raised his voice for everyone to hear. He sighed, ran a hand through his silvery hair and gazed around the room, pausing to look his audience in the eye. "I have to tell you that I'm proud of you. All of you, the things we've managed to overcome since Valzinameku- no, since Phoenix first appeared in Bayville are beyond the scope of what any of us can comprehend. Yet not only did we survive, we're somehow managing to grow stronger. It's been almost a year since this nightmare began." Pietro paused as the hall filled with muttered words. "Next month will mark the first anniversary of our world's end."

"Come on, Slim!" Bobby called from across the room. "We're still here. It's not over yet!" A roar of agreement resounded at Bobby's comment.

"Of course it isn't." Slim answered before the sound had died away. "Valzinameku isn't dead yet either."

"We can take him!" someone yelled over the hubbub.

Slim shook his head. "Let me be clear." His voice became stronger and his eyes hardened. "Even on the off chance that we defeat Valzinameku, we can't destroy his army. Not yet."

K'vas nec Hiva stood. "What army? We know nothing of an army."

"He has an army of somewhere between one hundred fifty and two hundred monsters. They've set up camp on the mountains surrounding Bayville." Slim rested his hands on the table and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Valzinameku has entered the city alone. He seems to just be wandering around aimlessly, but I believe he's looking for something. If we circle around-"

Logan snorted. "What's the problem? He's here and he's alone. We'll finish him off and then his army will fall apart."

"It's not that-"

"Look, Slim," Logan upended his cup's contents into his mouth and swallowed. "I know how you worry, especially since you're practically defenseless, but you've done a great job. Finding that stuff out is just like you. Leave the fighting to us. We can't wait here for him to find us." Again, the hall filled with murmurs. "Its now or later. It's better if we catch him off guard and alone."

Slim lowered his head.

"Wait!" Now it was Scott's turn to stand. "Let's at least hear what the guy's got to say. It may be useful."

The hall's attention was on Slim once more. "Whatever he's looking for is fairly large, and probably alive. I've seen him calling for it on several occasions. He's mad." Slim's eyes locked with Scott's. "He's furious. Valzinameku is not off guard. He's here to destroy something in the most painful way possible. If we attack and don't kill him, we're all doomed and Valzinameku will hunt for any possible survivors. If we don't attack, there's the possibility that he won't find us. That he'll find what he's looking for and leave, still convinced that there are no survivors." Slim took a deep breath and broke eye contact. "If we're willing to gamble, we could even help him find what he's looking for in exchange for everyone else's safety."

Slim steeled himself for the shouted rebuttals he knew would come. After a moment of silence, he looked back at Scott.

The X-Man's face was calm. "I understand, Slim." Scott turned away and strode to the side hall where the bunks were located. "But I don't agree or approve. This isn't the sort of person negotiations work with."

The silence continued long after Scott left. Slim bit his lip. It was a testament of how serious their situation was that everyone was seriously considering his plan. A sacrifice, because that was really what the volunteer would be, would buy time for the rest of the survivors to recuperate and retaliate.

"We'll talk about this later, Slim." Hiva stared hard at the crippled mutant. "Give us all time to consider this."

Slim growled. "Did you not understand what I said? We don't have time. Valzinameku could find what he's looking for at any time. He could find _us_ at any time. We have to decide now." Slim glared at the people at the head table, who simply avoided his gaze. "Fine. Consider it. But be quick about it." Slim hobbled out of the hall, ignoring the burst of noise that followed his departure. He had seen the looks on the faces of the leaders. The decision would stalemate and valuable time would be lost.

Time. One thing they had too little of to begin with.

Victor Creed

"Well, well, well." Victor Creed smirked at the crowd of faces as the Great Hall fell silent before him. "Who woulda thought there'd be so many rats hiding out here?"

Logan bolted to his feet, claws at the ready. "I hope you got your money back, cause you look like hell."

Creed laughed. "Picture an army three times your number with the ranks filled with smaller, weaker versions of me." The smile vanished from his face as Hiva, Todd and Ororo stood. "Then you understand why you better save those for later, Wolverine."

The only sound in the hall was of Logan's adamantium claws retracting.

"He's looking for me as we speak. You'll never beat his army on your own." Creed gave the Vulgates a hard look. "Not even your Angel squad could take them all down."

Ororo cleared her throat. "Is this an offer of assistance?"

Logan growled. "No way. We don't need his help. It's a trick anyway. Sabertooth is only in it for his own profit."

"We don't have the luxury of denying any kind of help." Hiva reminded Logan. "And if betrayal is your concern, we are fully capable of rewarding him in kind."

"Hello," Haiden interrupted. "Let's not forget Slim's idea. It's looking better by the second."

"Maybe we should ask him what he thinks we should do."

Creed spat on the floor. "You gonna listen to me, or what?"

"Go ahead, beast." Hiva answered with contempt. Somewhere behind him came a chorus of weak protests.

"I'll lead the army out of Bayville. You trash Val. I'll come back and you can pick off soldiers to your hearts content." Creed smiled, obviously pleased with himself.

Hiva glanced at the five humans Slim had identified as the holders of power among the mutants. They all seemed torn between the generous offer and caution of the deliverer. "What do you gain from this arrangement?"

"One last fight." Logan and Victor Creed's eyes locked. "Then I'll finish you off on my own."

Hiva nodded. "Understood. I find this arrangement acceptable."

"What?" Ororo stared at him in shock. "He said he intends to kill us when we're weak from fighting."

"I heard that as well." Lucifer spoke up. "However, since none of the Vulgates left the colony with the expectation of coming back alive, this is within the boundries of what they will allow. Creed is only human, and as horrible as he is, eventually he will die of old age. The situation is ideal for the Vulgates."

"I accept as well." Todd crossed his arms. "Cause Logan won't lose to you."

"It's quite a burden we're placing on you, Logan. Will you manage?" Ororo gazed at the Canadian with concern.

"Burden my foot. I've never lost to Creed and I never will. I don't need to know the lives of everyone else hangs in the balance. Like the frog said, I won't lose." Logan's eyes shone with a demonic light and his claws slid in and out of his knuckles.

"That's kinda harsh considering I believe in you." Todd muttered.

"We'll start at daybreak." Haiden announced with finality. "Try to get some sleep. If we screw up the battle with Valzinameku, it won't matter what Creed's intentions are, or how good the plan is. And don't tell Slim. I don't want to put up with him grumbling until morning."

Slim

Slim sat on the charred remains of a bench and rubbed his legs. Even though he could still move about as fast as a regular walker, traveling any distance across the rough terrain was hard on him. Based on Valzinameku's movements, Slim predicted that the monster would show up soon. There was no point in walking any further, but he was too nervous to keep still. Slim stood and hobbled his way further into the ruins of Bayville. He turned a corner and found himself staring into the iris-less eyes of Valzinameku.

They stood before each other in silence for a minute. Finally Valzinameku turned away and tore the door off what was once the town library. Slim sat down again, watching the door with keen interest. While Valzinameku had once resembled Evan, he now looked like a ghost of the X-Man. Valzinameku's eyes were blank orbs and his skin was ashen and as colorless as his eyes.

From outside the library, Slim could hear Valzinameku tearing the fire-gutted remains of the building apart. After an eternity, Valzinameku came out of the building. He paused to look at Slim and then proceeded to the next building. Night was falling quickly and Valzinameku's search grew even more furious as another day concluded.

Perfect dark had fallen before Slim heard the sounds of someone approaching. The footfalls stopped right in front of him and, with a smile he was sure Valzinameku couldn't see, Slim yawned.

"Are you the one that calls himself Valzinameku?" Slim lifted his head and a lit flashlight. "Are you the one they call a god?"

Human shaped lips spread impossibly wide to reveal a shark's set of teeth. "Yes, I am Valzinameku." The monster reached out for Slim, who made no effort to escape. "I am a god."


End file.
